PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Samantha Bathija, MA, LPC

Samantha Bathija obtained her Master’s in Psychology with Mental Health Counseling focus from Westfield State College. She has passionately treated eating disorders and addictions for over a decade, and is thrilled to be part of a research-supported treatment model that is individualized and warm. She is proactive in the inclusion of current evidence-based interventions, and equally dedicated to ensuring there are fun and spirited activities to renew a sense of passion for life. Samantha believes eating disorders should be treated holistically because, at their core, they are a disorder that targets every aspect of a persons’ well-being. She has unwavering optimism after seeing the miraculous results Center for Discovery’s model brings clients and their families. Samantha is quite certain she experiences true magic daily.

REGISTERED DIETITIAN

Simone Tartaglia, RD, CDN

Simone Tartaglia is a Registered Dietitian, licensed in the state of Connecticut. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics from the State University of New York, College at Oneonta and attended her dietetic internship through the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut.

It was through this internship that Ms. Tartaglia first became acquainted with Center for Discovery during a Community Nutrition rotation at Center for Discovery Eating Disorder Program’s adolescent program in Connecticut. Since then, Ms. Tartaglia has worked as a diet tech and counselor at Center for Discovery Eating Disorder Program. She is now the Dietitian at Center for Discovery Eating Disorder Program’s adult program in Fairfield, Connecticut.

PSYCHIATRIST

Dr. Deborah Lipschitz, B.Sc., MBChB

Dr. Deborah Lipschitz graduated with a Bachelor of Science and her medical degree from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. She spent four years working in Pediatrics in South Africa and in England before coming to the United States where she completed her residency and fellowship training in Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY.

Dr. Lipschitz opened her psychiatric practice in Fairfield in 1996. In addition to treating private patients , Dr. Lipschitz provides psychiatric consultation and care to young adults with eating disorders at Center for Discovery Eating Disorder Program, a residential treatment facility in Fairfield, CT.

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

Sondra Bogursky, MD

Dr. Sondra Bogursky graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and attended medical school at the Temple University School of Medicine. She completed a dual residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT.  She has continued on as faculty in the Yale Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program and has additional teaching roles at both the Yale Physician’s Associates Program and the St. Mary’s Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Dr. Bogursky is board-certified in both Pediatrics and Internal Medicine.  She joined the Center for Discovery team in April 2015 and functions as the Medical Director at the Fairfield adult location where she provides medical care in the treatment of eating disorders.

PRIMARY THERAPIST, CLINICAL SUPERVISOR

Samantha Chasse, MFT

Samantha Chasse has a MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from Southern Connecticut State University. Samantha is so amazed by the bravery she has witnessed from the women who come to Center for Discovery as they confront the most challenging aspects of their lives. Sam seeks to inspire through teaching shame resilience, and the importance of vulnerability in undermining the “function” of eating disorders. She finds great joy in witnessing women find ever greater levels of freedom as they accept and even “love” every circumstance that has made them exactly who they are.