Who We Are
Even on the hardest days, we hold hope for you. That’s what we do. That’s who we are.
If you’re here, you’re likely searching for something big. Starting therapy is no small step. It takes courage, vulnerability, and a willingness to hope for something better. We know that opening up to a stranger can feel intimidating. Add in the stress of time, cost, and uncertainty, and it’s no wonder this decision can feel heavy. But here’s the truth: if you’re feeling that hesitation, you’re probably exactly where you need to be. At DBT of South Jersey, we meet you with compassion, clarity, and evidence-based care that works. This may be your first step, but it’s a powerful one — and you don’t have to take it alone.
We would love to support you.
Meet Our Team
Our team is trained in foundational and advanced DBT, with additional specialties that deepen the quality of care we offer.
Shaelene Lauriano kite
LPC, DBT-LBC Certified Clinician, ACS, NCC, RYT, Florida Telehealth Provider
OWNER & DIRECTOR
She/Her/Hers
“Never compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.”
—Janis Joplin
Lisa Besler
LPC, DBT-LBC Certified Clinician, ACS, Florida Telehealth Provider
CLINICAL DIRECTOR
She/Her/Hers
“You did then what you knew how to do, and when you knew better you did better.”
—Maya Angelou
LSW
He/Him/His
“Don’t be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill just like a soldier on the wall of battle. If you are injured and can’t climb up without another soldier’s help, so what?”
-Marcus Aurelius
Michelle Dunn
LSW
GROUP COORDINATOR
She/Her/Hers
“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”
—Joshua J. Marine
LAC
She/Her/Hers
“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become”
—Carl Jung
Alaina Cara
LCSW
She/Her/Hers
“Radical Acceptance is the willingness to experience ourselves and our lives as it is. A moment of Radical Acceptance is a moment of genuine freedom.”
–Tara Branch
Molly Johnson
LCSW
She/Her/Hers
“You do not belong to the future or the past -You belong right here.”
– Rupi Kaur
Christina Sterlacci
LPC
She/Her/Hers
“Sometimes when you are in a dark place, you think you have been buried, but actually you’ve been planted.”
Mary Evers
LCSW
She/Her/Hers
“We can trust ourselves, stand in our own truth, stand in our own light. Fear, doubt and confusion are the enemies of self-trust”.
-Melody Beattie
Sarah Sidman
LPC, LCADC, NCC
She/Her/Hers
“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.”
-Sophia Bush
LAC
She/Her/Hers
“Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations.”
– Alfred Adler
Habeebah Abdus-Salaam
LCSW
Telehealth Provider in Pennsylvania, Vermont, Florida & South Carolina
She/Her/Hers
“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy.”
– Khalil Gibran
LAC & Reiki Practicioner
She/Her/Hers
“The most important healing –
realizing who you are.”
– Eckhart Tolle
Madison Rubino
LAC & Reiki Practicioner
She/Her/Hers
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
– Heraclitus
Counseling Intern
DO, PSY-3 Psychiatry Resident
He/Him/His
“Not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves.”
— Henry David Thoreau
We’re Hiring!
Build a career worth loving with our expert DBT Therapist team here in South Jersey.
Counseling Intern
She/Her/Hers
“No more apologies for a bleeding heart when the opposite is no heart at all. Danger of losing our humanity must be met with more humanity.”
– Toni Morrison
Counseling Intern
She/Her/Hers
“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us, and some things are not up to us”
– Epictetus
Counseling Intern
He/Him/His
“We all change. When you think about it… we’re all different people, all throughout our lives. And that’s OK, that’s good, you gotta keep moving – so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.”
-Doctor Who, The 11th Doctor
