Minoo Shilati, Psy.D. - Owner/Psychotherapist Doctor Minoo Shilati is a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in addressing mental health and addiction related concerns. She is a certified grief and loss specialist and certified gambling addiction provider with the state of California. Dr. Shilati currently serves as co-owner of Vantage Point Recovery and Counseling Center with her daughter Dr. Sheila Shilati. She has been a guest speaker and lecturer, most recently addressing the necessity for increased education regarding addiction services and awareness of cultural stigma. She is a former owner of a prestigious Malibu sober living facility and former international representative assisting victims of the Bam, Iran earthquake.
Sheila Shilati, Psy.D. - Owner/Program Director Doctor Sheila Shilati is a licensed psychologist, consultant, volunteer and lecturer. She has spent several years in various capacities within the recovery community. She was clinically trained in a variety of settings including detention centers, outpatient programs, community mental health clinics and residential inpatient programs. Doctor Shilati has been a trailblazer for a multitude of programs implementing innovative behavioral interventions and techniques that integrate physical recreation and recovery. She has served as an international ambassador and participant in two separate medical and relief expeditions overseas in Iran and Africa; working directly with victims of natural disasters and HIV/AIDS.
Doctor Shilati has lectured at various university settings including California State University Northridge, Pepperdine University, California Lutheran University, and Oxnard College. She has presented at conferences and workshops on a variety of topics including Teenage Suicide, Co-Occurring Disorders, Family Process and Addiction. Doctor Shilati also serves as the current Chief Operating Officer of Seasons Recovery Center in Malibu, CA.
Amber Flamminio, M.A. - Assistant Program Director Amber Flamminio received her MA in psychology from Pepperdine University in 2011. She attended USC for her undergrad and received a BA in theatre and psychology. Under the instruction of Brent Blair at SC, she used applied arts therapies in the surrounding downtown community working with childern from the ages of 11-18 and the patients of Shriners hospital. Since her recent graduation, she has completed level one of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy training at the Beck institute in Philadelphia and partook in a mindfulness retreat in Seattle led by Marsha Linahan, the creator of Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Amber joined the Vantage Point team in July 2011 and excited about the future ahead. She is currently the Assistant program director and lead the skills & values group on thursdays.
Rocky J. Lewis, LMFT - Therapist Rocky J. Lewis, is a licensed marriage and family therapist that has been a member of the Vantage Point treatment team for nearly three years. His clinical experience ranges with a variety of populations including adolescents, addicts, maturing men in mid-life, and families. Rocky's professional career includes a history as an actor and photographer. He has utilized various approaches in meeting the client's needs including reality based therapy, cognitive-behavioral interventions, Inner Dialogue, and psychodrama. Rocky prides himself on facilitating the overall empowerment and growth of clients.
Rose Ghavami - Yoga Being a student of the arts, Rose incorporated her love of performance, dance, movement, philosophy, theology, and therapy into her yoga practice. Finding a platform that allows all of her good, bad, and ugly parts to dance together - yoga became a natural progression to move towards. It wasn't until she took the plunge and took her teacher training course through Yoga Works that she truly understood the abundance that yoga provides.
After completing her teacher training in 2008 she became Yoga Alliance Certified at the 500hr level and is now teaching in a unique style which she calls Sacred Rose Yoga. Rose, utilizes a multi-faceted approach to entice not only the body, but also the mind, heart, senses and soul. Through the union of all these elements she creates a sacred space to delve deep within and awaken the divinity that lay dormant in so many of us.
Adam Gerbman - Empowerment Coach Adam began his coaching career guiding entrepreneurs of small to mid-size businesses through various spiritual business development models that merged personal growth, universal and marketing principals. Feeling pulled to work with addicts and alcoholics, Adam discovered his ultimate calling: to use his unique gifts to inspire and empower individuals in recovery to achieve the life of their dreams through a coaching process which involves a radical transformation of consciousness; a process that guides them to not just live their dreams, but to awaken within them.
Having moved from NJ to southern California December 2009 in order to pursue his calling, he immediately gained valuable experience working with various treatment centers and sober living houses in the Los Angeles area as both a Transformational Empowerment Coach and Management Consultant. Combining spiritual wisdom with an energy/action model approach, Adam moves fellow addicts and alcoholics into a purposeful and passionate life. His program has been embraced by clients and industry professionals alike.
Gitty Rassouli, Psy.D Dr. Rassouli's education has focused on family dynamics, narrative, art and creative therapy. She has researched extensively in family therapy, general psychotherapy, and assessment and treatment of behavioral and deficit disorders and has developed and implemented treatment plans in educational arenas, and collaborated with school psychologists, principals and teachers.
As a psychologist, Dr. Rassouli worked at El Centro De Amistad in Los Angeles for three
years, facilitating individual and group mental health counseling to children ages 5-18 as school based mental health therapist and collaborated with health-service professionals to develop treatment plans for emotionally disturbed adolescents. From 2005 until 2007 she held a position as Psychological Assistant/ MFTI/ATI at Advanced Psychological Services where she implemented art therapy and play therapy techniques within the Post Modern approach, Solution Focused, Narrative and Object Relations interventions. She is presently working with Dr. Jose Corena and Dr. Beverly Rivera as a psychological assistant in private practice settings, where she is providing child/adolescent, adult, individual, family and couple's therapy in outpatient program for Private Insurance, Victims of Crime, and direct referrals.
Courtney Gwyn - MFT-Intern Courtney Gwyn is a Marriage+Family Therapist intern registered with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. He holds a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University and trained at Pasadena Mental Health Center where he provided individual therapy, family therapy and facilitated adolescent groups for the 1st Offender Program in conjunction with the Pasadena Police Department.
Careers as a Wall St Bond Dealer and a Commercial Fisherman have given him a broad range of life experience. With a background in Existential/Humanistic Psychology as well as a personal experience with 12 step recovery, Courtney is passionate about his work and uniquely qualified to help with your substance abuse problems, relationship issues and life goals.
Savannah Thomas -
STAFF
