HOUSTON OUTPATIENT EATING DISORDER PROGRAM

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jon Carapezza

Jon has 10 years of experience in the mental health field, including management and client care coordination of inpatient, residential, and intensive outpatient facilities. He joined the team in May 2018 as Facility Coordinator and is currently fulfilling his hours to become a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. In his spare time, Jon likes to play with his dog and spend time in nature.

PSYCHIATRIST

Dr. Sonal Rana, MD

Sonal Rana, MD, went to Stanford University for her undergraduate education. She pursued her medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco. She completed four years of adult psychiatry training at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Semel Institute of Human Behavior and Neuroscience and later returned to Stanford to complete her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship. She is board certified in adult psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry.

After completing her fellowship, Dr. Rana worked as the medical director for the intensive outpatient program for adolescents and families at the Bay Area Children’s Association, a non-profit agency in California. She has specialized training in mentalization-based therapy, structural family therapy, family-based therapy for eating disorders, play-based therapies, interpersonal, parent-child interaction therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapies for children and adolescents.

She has facilitated adolescent groups on depression and anxiety, parent workshops on childhood anxiety, as well as, multifamily groups designed to improve family communication and cohesiveness. She has worked with children, adolescents, and adults with diagnoses ranging from anxiety and depression, to bipolar disorder, eating disorders, disruptive behavior disorder, personality disorders (with particular emphasis on Borderline Personality Disorder), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, high functioning autism, and schizophrenia. As a psychiatrist, she believes that medications are a useful adjunct to therapeutic modalities designed to bolster families and individuals. She has been part of the Center for Discovery family since 2015.

DIETETIC INTERN

Linsey Steele

Growing up, Linsey didn’t always feel at peace with her body. Diet culture sets unrealistic standards about how people should look and what their relationship with food should be like. She practices through a lens that recognizes and appreciates Health At Every Size and integrates Intuitive Eating. She believes all foods fit and can be incorporated with variety and balance in a way that best makes sense for each individual.

She grew up in the heart of Houston and received a Bachelors of Nutrition Sciences from the University of Houston in 2019, and she completed her Dietetic Internship with the University of Houston’s Distance Program. While obtaining her degree, she spent her time working at the Medical Center for Eating Disorders alongside Jennifer Nagel, PA and Dr. Edward Tyson who both specialize in treating the medical complications of eating disorders. She has experience working with people of all ages and backgrounds.

She is passionate about working with eating disorders, disordered eating, body respect and acceptance, and intuitive eating using a non-diet approach.

CLINICAL DIRECTOR

Emily McGrath, LPC

Emily graduated from Baylor University in 2011 with her bachelor’s degree in psychology. Next, she earned her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2013. She became a fully licensed LPC in 2016. She has worked on the adult unit of an inpatient psychiatric hospital setting with adults in crisis. She also has several years of experience working in a residential treatment center for adolescent girls with trauma histories as well as emotional and behavioral challenges. Emily is passionate about the treatment of eating disorders and the co-occurring struggles associated with the illness. Emily is trained in DBT, CBT, EMDR and is a trauma-informed clinician. As clinical director, Emily oversees the clinical needs of the Houston outpatient eating disorder facility. When she is not at work, Emily can be found loving on her rescue pup, Griff, painting or watching YouTube makeup tutorials.