DES PLAINES OUTPATIENT EATING DISORDER PROGRAM

Melissa O’Neill, LCSW, CEDS-S

Melissa O’Neill is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over a decade of experience with Eating Disorders in higher levels of care. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and her Master’s degree from University of Illinois.

Ms. O’Neill has specialized in working with adults and adolescents struggling with Eating Disorders, co-occurring disorders, and those who have experienced trauma. She has supervised programs for the treatment of Eating Disorders at IOP, PHP, and residential levels of care and holds her Certified Eating Disorder Specialist Supervisor designation. Ms. O’Neill approaches therapy from the lens that relationships are vital to the healing process and a key component of recovery. She is also an EMDR trained clinician and is adjunct faculty and DePaul University.

Magdalena Zelazko, BS

Magdalena Zelazko graduated from Loyola University of Chicago in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and minor in Psychology of Crime & Justice. During her undergrad, she began volunteering and working in communal and hospital settings with children, adolescents, and adults who struggled with behavioral and developmental delays. She also worked as an assistant designer/manager for an interior design firm specializing in rehabilitative settings by overseeing both project progress and team efficacy. In 2018, Magdalena began her work at Center for Discovery in the Residential Treatment Center in Glenview, IL as a milieu counselor. In this role, she honed in on her leadership and interpersonal skills by leading counseling groups such as DBT, providing one-on-one support to clients, managing crisis situations, and providing meal support. In the summer of 2019, Magdalena began her role as Facility Coordinator of the new Chicago Eating Disorder Outpatient Facility to better serve the clients and their families.

Melissa Koontz, M.Ed

Melissa Koontz graduated from DePaul University with a Masters in Counseling, concentration in Clinical Mental Health. Melissa has worked in a variety of mental health settings, including residential, partial hospitalization, and out-patient programs. She has significant clinical experience treating eating disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, as well as adolescent and adult age groups. Melissa uses a strengths based approach to explore the client’s true self, while empowering them towards change. Also a registered yoga teacher, RYT, Melissa uses yogic principles to connect the mind-body and promote mindfulness in and out of therapy sessions. At Center for Discovery, Melissa offers gentle yoga to help clients connect with their physical bodies and practice self-acceptance. Her focus on the whole-person gives clients a chance to make long-lasting holistic changes in their lives. Melissa truly believes in the power of therapy and is passionate about the well being and success of her clients

Demi Maropoulos, RD

Demi Maropoulos is a Registered Dietitian with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Demi first began at Center for Discovery during her professional internship rotations as a dietetic intern. She stepped in as many roles before becoming the facility’s full-time dietitian.

Demi believes Center for Discovery’s food philosophy is essential in creating positive relationships with food. She believes in “all foods fit” and “health at every size” for everyone, not just those recovering from eating disorders. Demi lives this philosophy daily, in and out of Center For Discovery, with the hope of inspiring others to develop their own healthy relationships with food.

Arianna Maggio, LSW, CADC

Arianna Maggio is a licensed social worker and certified alcohol and drug counselor with a master’s from Loyola University of Chicago. She has experience practicing social work with concentrations in clinical mental health and substance abuse treatment alongside a diverse range of clientele at inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient levels of care. As a primary therapist, Arianna enjoys utilizing a combination of motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral and humanistic therapeutic modalities centered around reinstilling and preserving client autonomy and identifying the individual’s power to create positive changes in one’s life. She views the client-therapist relationship as a collaborative partnership with emphasis placed upon tailoring treatment plans to align with recovery-oriented client values. Arianna firmly believes that when provided with access to mental health education, positive skills-based training and a supportive therapeutic environment, all individuals have the opportunity to flourish.

Sarah Wiltgens, LCPC, BC-DMT

A licensed clinical professional counselor, Sarah Wiltgen graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a master’s in dance/movement therapy and counseling. She has worked with children, adolescents and adults with mood, anxiety and other disorders throughout her career and developed a passion for working with those with eating disorders. As a primary therapist, Sarah works with individual patients and their families, as well as facilitates a variety of groups. As a dance/movement therapist, she is passionate about helping patients with eating disorders reconnect to their bodies through mindfulness and movement. Sarah works under the premise that our bodies hold wisdom that can aid in emotional and psychological healing. She also believes in the power of relationship and offers a trauma informed, strengths-based approach when working with patients to actualize their most authentic selves in mind, body and spirit.

Shannon Stewart, RDN, LDN

Shannon graduated from Dominican University with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics. There, she discovered a passion for a holistic approach to health and the importance of caring not only for the body, but for the mind and soul as well. She then received her master’s in nutrition and wellness with an emphasis in counseling from Bradley University. Shannon completed her dietetic internship at Bradley where she was able to improve her knowledge and skills in Intuitive Eating and Health at Every Size ®. Her hope is to assist individuals in their path towards food freedom and eating disorder recovery. Her passions outside of Center for Discovery include cooking/baking, spending time outdoors, connecting with friends and family and immersing herself in different cultures.

Jen Flaxman, (she/hers) LSW

Jen Flaxman graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a Master of Social Work concentrating in clinical mental health after completing her bachelor’s in psychology at the University of Montana. Jen has experience in a variety of settings including a therapeutic high school, an autism clinic and a forensic psychiatric hospital. She completed clinical rotations within a behavioral health hospital working in both acute inpatient and outpatient settings. Jen brings her adaptability and diverse work experience to help clients create growth and behavior change. She relies on her values of transparency, authenticity, vulnerability and collaboration to support clients in furthering their recovery and creating a life worth living. Jen works both individually with clients and leads groups, always utilizing a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) lens to support clients in balancing acceptance with change. Additionally, Jen uses warmth, humor, creativity and her dedication to social justice to empower clients on their recovery journeys. Jen is a firm believer that everyone is unconditionally worthy as well as capable and deserving of living a life without the constraints of an eating disorder.

Kathryn Buhle, M.Ed, LPC, NCC

As a licensed professional counselor, Kathryn Buhle graduated from Purdue University Northwest with a master’s in clinical mental health counseling and a certification in addiction counseling. Along with working at the partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient levels of care with Center for Discovery, Kathryn has additional experience at the residential and outpatient levels. Kathryn has experience treating eating disorders, mood and anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders with both adolescents and adults. In her role as the clinical intake coordinator, Kathryn helps to ensure that each client is comfortable transitioning into the program on their first day. As a therapist, Kathryn uses dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help clients challenge their eating disorder voice and use coping skills to make changes in their lives as they strive towards recovery.

Meredith Starr, RDN, LDN

Meredith Starr is a registered dietitian and an alumna of the University of Illinois at Chicago Coordinated Nutrition Program. She is deeply passionate about the treatment of eating disorders and has been practicing in this field for the past five years. Meredith began her nutrition career at UI Health general inpatient services while working part time at a residential treatment facility for eating disorders. She then continued her eating disorders work, primarily focused in residential and partial hospitalization levels of care. Prior to coming to Center for Discovery, Meredith combined her clinical and eating disorder experience to become a nutrition support specialist. In this position, she oversaw tube feeding protocols in the Chicago region for a large eating disorder treatment provider. Her personal nutrition philosophy centers on building a healthy relationship with food and is inclusive of mental, emotional, physical and social health. Meredith describes herself as a Health at Every Size ® and anti-diet dietitian. She is passionate about empowering others in their relationship with food and their bodies. Meredith is also a part-time dancer, instructor and choreographer in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. The rest of her free time is spent doing jigsaw puzzles, looking for new doughnut shops and snuggling her beloved corgi, Moira.

Elizabeth Walsh, RDN, LDN

Lizzie received her bachelor’s in nutrition and dietetics from The Ohio State University and went on to complete her dietetic internship at Loyola University Chicago. Prior to her role as a dietitian at Center for Discovery, Lizzie has experience working in a residential treatment facility for eating disorder care. She also has experience in research, food insecurity and mental health acute care. Lizzie believes that all individuals are deserving of care and recovery. Her work is guided by her belief that all foods can be a part of a balanced and healthy lifestyle as she strives to help her patients develop a positive relationship with food. Outside of her work at Center for Discovery, Lizzie enjoys traveling to visit friends and family, walks by the lake and trying new restaurants around the city.