Find A Practitioner

Vince, a noted lecturer and educator in the tri-state area, has been active in the field of addiction since 1977. He is the founder and former director of The Starting Point, Inc. of NJ in Haddon Township, New Jersey. The Starting Point is an outpatient counseling center specializing in the areas of dependencies and functions as a support system for each individual’s personal growth.

With his friendly manner and down-to-earth lectures, has assisted many to enter a new sense of awareness and come to realize and accept that the power to institute change comes from within. While sharing his own spiritual and emotional growth, he guides his listeners in increasing their self-esteem and allowing old fears and behaviors to make way for a new and fulfilling lifestyle.

Vincent has worked with and advocated for individuals with issues ranging from addiction to mental health challenges. For the past 20 years, he has taught people how to use healthy coping skills in order to alleviate intense emotional discomfort. He uses proven treatment techniques that are based in CBT, DBT, Client-Centered, and Family Systems therapies. Besides working with those who are having difficulty navigating life’s many stressors,

Vincent also has extensive experience helping those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered & questioning (dealing with “coming out” issues).

Vincent is available to work individually (15 years and older), as well as couples and families. His priority is helping with the process of Paving Pathways to Peacefulness, to cultivate a more hopeful future.

Carol has worked as a counselor for nearly 20 years. In community mental health settings, she worked with persons with dual diagnoses of mental illness and substance abuse. She was the creator and facilitator of the center’s first women’s groups and facilitated specific groups for women who suffered with substance abuse issues. She was also able to establish and run a closed group for survivors of abuse to assist them in processing life’s challenges and move them forward toward the status of thrivers. She has worked as an individual therapist as well as an IOP and OP counselor in private and nonprofit settings. She believes that each person has innate value and purpose and respects that every individual has their own perspective of life’s experiences.

Carol is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master of Science in Rehabilitation Counseling. She is also a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor. She believes in client-centered therapy and uses modalities such as CBT, Schema-Focused Therapy and the 12-Step philosophy while working within the outlines of each client’s specific goals and needs.

Christine Batra is a board certified and licensed professional counselor.  She is also an honors graduate from the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University.

As a therapist, Christine believes that deep within each individual lies the potential to live a fulfilled and engaging life. However, through the unconscious reinforcement of maladaptive beliefs from childhood along with the rigors and challenges of everyday life,these latent qualities lie dormant waiting to manifest. Utilizing an integrative Psycho-therapeutic approach, Christine helps to remove unhealthy emotional barriers to achieve lasting harmony and balance.

This therapeutic approach employs theory and research from Emotion Focused Therapy, Psychodynamic Psychology, Neuropsychology, and Internal Family Systems Therapy and, when integrated, offers tailored treatment for children, adolescents, adults and couples. Her practice can assist clients who experience anxiety, depression, relationship/marital conflict, addiction, personality disorders, and/or existential inquiry and purpose.

Christine offers a supportive environment where empathy and understanding are paramount. She paces treatment on each client’s unique needs to help them discover emotional freedom and authentic self-expression.

Angela K. Baxter BS, CADC has been involved in the addictions field since April of 2011.

Her background is in Behavioral and Addictions Counseling from Drexel University and she is a Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor. Angela utilizes evidenced- based practices to help her patients gain knowledge of the disease of addiction, learn to implement coping strategies, and relapse-prevention skills in their recovery process.

Angela brings positive energy to her patients while being an empathic and compassionate counselor. She is dedicated to help support and guide the patients and loved ones by walking along side of them through the treatment process.

Tara is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is experienced in assisting clients navigate some of life’s challenges such as anxiety, depression, anger, relationship issues and/or substance abuse. Skilled at providing psych education, she helps clients identify and address self-defeating thoughts, beliefs and behavioral patterns that negatively impact your sense of well-being and health. Whether you have experienced a sudden change or an accumulation of stressors, question your actions or lack of actions that results in self criticism, or ruminate about the past and/or worry about the future Tara can assist you with developing positive self care, increased insight, healthy boundaries, and strategies to function and feel better. She is compassionate, down-to-earth, straightforward, and believes in the benefits of light, purposeful humor. She is also respectful regarding where you are and allows you to move at your own pace. Ultimately Tara hopes to challenge you and encourage you to face your challenges and grow.

Karyn is a Certified Spiritual Life Coach. She is an active and vibrant individual with a charismatic personality that lifts up the energy in a room full of people.  

Karyn’s personal and professional journey has helped her accumulate in-depth experience and expertise as a Spiritual Life Coach specializing in addiction, narcissistic abuse, co-dependency, confidence building,  self-love, self-care, health and wellness.  She helps individuals reprogram their lack and limiting belief mindsets, overcome their struggles, and pursue the life they always dreamt of living. She assists in building confidence, self-esteem, self-assurance, and healthy decision-making skills. She is a positive force who encourages individuals to believe in themselves, tapping into their potential to lead successful, happy, and inspirational lives. She enables individuals to choose life beyond the pain, traumas, suffering, and failures they have encountered in their lives and transform themselves into a magnet of success in all areas of life by becoming the best version of themselves emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  

Karyn has worked diligently through her life lessons and has overcome many obstacles that once held her down. As a professional, her philosophy has always been to embrace adversity, to develop continuously and bring order to chaos. She aspires to devote her time, energy, and talents to educating people about perfectly nurturing self-love and assisting them in healing through in-depth Life Coaching sessions that end with a powerful spiritual mind treatment, also know as an affirmative prayer. She can provide testimonials from her clients if anyone is interested in learning more about the power of transformation when working with a coach.  

Gary has over 25 years of experience managing and providing various mental health and addiction services. He has been responsible for the coordination of reentry services for individuals returning to the community from correctional settings and State/County psychiatric hospitals. These services include the supervision of individuals diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness, substance abuse disorders, Megan’s Law, domestic violence and other criminal offenses.

In private practice Gary utilizes a client-centered, evidenced-based approach to provide services. Gary works with individuals, families, and groups to address the negative impact addiction can have on these systems. He utilizes interventions such as (CBT) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, motivational interviewing, and brief solution-focused interventions. Gary provides training on various topics such as trauma and addiction, stages of change, medication assisted treatment and anger management. His work is guided by the belief that each day brings with it new opportunities of hope and redemption.

Susan is a seasoned, licensed clinical Social Worker/Psychotherapist who has worked for over three decades with a wide range of clients, including young adults, couples, families and children. Her modalities of practice include both traditional and alternative therapies, including (but not limited to) Behavioral Cognitive Therapy, relaxation therapies, talk therapy, family therapy and developmental psychology.

She has worked with child protective services (and other related services) in both agencies and in private practice. Notably, she spent 15 years working on child study teams in both public and private school systems.

Susan works with most of the regional insurance providers, including Aetna, Magellan, Tricare, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Medicare and many local unions Health and Welfare plans (to name but a few.)

Erik received his graduate degree in Social Work from Rutgers University and is a Licensed Social Worker in the state of New Jersey. He studied and is interested in working with vulnerable populations. He initially served as an intern at The Starting Point and chose to remain after his graduation to start his own practice.

Erik works with children, adolescents, and adults who are seeking help with issues such as self-esteem/worth, anxiety, sexuality, recovery from trauma, feeling stuck in life, codependency, and relationship issues. He offers his services in individual and family sessions, implementing various therapeutic approaches catered to the client’s needs. He is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for his clients.

Erik’s philosophy is that the role of the counselor is to take the journey of healing with the client, not lead the client.

Kevin is a licensed clinical social worker who provides individual, couples, family, and group counseling.

He has counseled and advocated for people with substance abuse related concerns and those who suffer from various mental health diagnoses, such as depression, anxiety, and Bipolar Disorder, etc., for more than 25 years.

Additionally, Kevin has worked with both adolescents and adults, addressed men’s and women’s issues, and works within a holistic approach. He uses an empathetic client-centered model that “meets the person where they are”. Kevin believes in providing a safe and nonjudgmental atmosphere for people to mend, increase their strengths, and evolve to be the person they choose.

He has been in private practice at The Starting Point, Inc. for more than 10 years and accepts a variety of insurances.

Anita is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Mentor/Life Coach with a Master’s in Education. She is comfortable working with Individuals, couples (married and/or partnered) and groups.

Philosophy:  The way to inner peace, balance, wholeness, and healing is to embrace thought patterns and a belief system that lead to an empowered lifestyle.

Specialization:  Helping to re-frame thought patterns so that clients may create a map of their world that moves from a stuck and painful place to a path of action; action that leads to wholeness and the realization of personal, professional, and /or relationship goals achieved.

Healing Approach:  Anita provides a safe and comfortable environment that offers acceptance and support to all who come.  She looks at the whole person with the intention of enhancing and restoring well-being by using a combination of the following Cognitive

Therapies: Rational-Emotive-Behavioral Therapy (REBT)  and Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP). The focus of each session is to empower clients so that they are not victims to whatever past, present, and/or future circumstance encountered.

Anita works with:  Individuals, Couples (married and/or partnered), and Groups

Issues to Resolve:  Codependency, ACOA Issues, Depression, Relationship Issues (self-esteem, marriage, partner, professional, etc.), Loss (of a loved one, pet, divorce, separation, health, job, etc.), Life Transitions, Stress/Anxiety Management, Communication Skills Enhanced.

 

Pat has been working with helping families to lead healthier lives by offering programs such as:

• Active Parenting,


• Active Parenting for Teens, and


• Cooperative Parenting and Divorce.

She also helps partners and families heal from the effects of Trauma and Sexual Addiction. Pat believes that, hope can be regained, lives can be rebuilt, and meaningful change can be created within a caring environment.

As a therapist who specializes in loss and grief, Pat Obst has walked the grief journey with many clients and has experienced losses personally. This led her to create the Afterwards Journey, to help clients grieve, heal, and recreate their lives after loss.

She began practice more than twenty years ago as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and life coach. In addition to counseling and earlier in her career, Pat was a case manager in a mental health outpatient facility. She was then a care coordinator of in-home care giving services for older adults. Then, as a hospice social worker, Pat facilitated care and support for hospice patients and their families.

Her specialization in grief counseling came about 19 years ago after the loss of her infant son Ricky. Pat developed her specialization in grief therapy through years of additional training. Within that, she specializes in working with parents who have lost children.

Pat co-created and co-facilitated a program called Afterwards, LLC., which was dedicated to helping those 1-5 years past a major loss to step forward into the next chapter of their lives. She has led grief lectures, workshops, and done podcasts for The Starting Point, Inc. of New Jersey. She has also presented at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) annual conference.

 Specialties

• Loss & Grief


• Divorce


• Grief-related depression


• Grief -related anxiety


• Grief related to life changing illness/injury


• Grief-related trauma

Type of Therapies

• Compassion Focused Therapy


• Cognitive Behavior Therapy


• Functional Analytic Psychotherapy


• Holistic Therapy


• Humanistic Therapy


• Mindfulness Based CBT


• Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy

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Education: MSW - Master of Social Work, Rutgers University-Camden, NJ; BA -Sociology, Eastern College, St. Davids, PA;
Licenses: Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), NJ
Additional Training: Continuing Education in grief and loss through The Columbia Center for Complicated Grief. Life coach training through the GROW Training Institute, Inc.

 

 

 

Joanne has an eclectic background beginning with her first degree in Laboratory Medicine. After many years of experience in a variety of clinical laboratories (hospital, oncology, reference labs), she returned to college to achieve her bachelor's and master’s degrees in Social Work from Rutgers University, from where she graduated with honors. She has also drawn on her determination and abilities to survive as a single parent of 2, even managing her own home-based childcare business, coupled with a weekend lab job to make ends meet. Tenacity is her middle name; resourcefulness her forté.

Joanne’s passion for helping people is fueled by her ability to truly empathize with you, regardless of your situation. Her sincerity and compassion are palpable; she draws from her life experiences, her open-mindedness, her insight, and her innate ability to listen with an open mind, heart, and spirit.

Believing in a “team approach”, Joanne will help you to prioritize your own needs, with the goal of leading you to view your options from different perspectives, thus enabling you to make decisions that are otherwise difficult or that seem insurmountable.

She is strongly supportive of the under-served needs of those who are stressed by their role as caregivers for those with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. She is also well-versed in helping those with depression, anxieties, grief in its many forms, relationship difficulties, and mindfulness (including self-care).

Currently, Joanne does not accept insurance (that option is in process). Fee will be decided at your first session, based on what is amenable to both parties.

 

 

James has specialized in the mental health and substance abuse treatment field for over eighteen years. He has seen first-hand how establishing a good therapeutic relationship throughout the counseling process makes treatment a successful experience. Through various strategies and techniques that are evidenced based, patients have been able to raise their own insights and gain a healthier sense of self.  As a result, patients have been able to develop and establish positive coping skills to assist with combating their own self-defeating behaviors associated with anxiety, depression and addiction.

In addition, James is an approved provider able to conduct assessments for individuals who have been found guilty of driving under the Influence (DUI) in New Jersey and surrounding states. If you have completed your required 12 or 48 hour classes or have been identified as a Multiple Offender, he is authorized to complete your evaluation and provide the mandatory treatment needed to comply with your IDRC requirements.

Of particular interest to Camden County Probationers, James is a preferred provider for drug and alcohol assessment and anger management classes. He understands how important it is to have your evaluations completed and forwarded to your Probation Officer especially when this is the last task a client needs done before completing probation. All reports are completed and faxed within 24 hours from the clients initial meeting.

Types of Therapy: 

Gestalt, Mindfulness-Based (MBCT), Person-Centered and Family Systems

Modalities:

Individuals, Couples and Groups


Specialties:      

Substance Use, Dual Diagnosis, Mood Disorders, Early Intervention (EI), Solution Focused Brief (SFBT), Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Strength-Based and Rational Emotive Behavior (REBT)