Meet the POTC Team!
Debbie Sorensen, PhD, Co-host
Debbie (she/her) is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Denver, Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard University. She is author of the upcoming book ACT for Burnout: Recharge, Reconnect, and Transform Burnout with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and co-author of ACT Daily Journal: Get Unstuck and Live Fully with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. She loves living in Colorado, her home state, with her husband, two daughters, and dog. When she’s not busy working or podcasting, she enjoys reading fiction, cooking, traveling, and getting outdoors in the beautiful Rocky Mountains! You can learn more about Debbie, read her blog, and find out about upcoming presentations and training events at her webpage, drdebbiesorensen.com.
Jill Stoddard, PhD, Co-host
Jill Stoddard is passionate about sharing science-backed ideas from psychology to help people thrive. She is a psychologist, writer, TEDx speaker, award-winning teacher, peer-reviewed ACT trainer, and co-host of the popular Psychologists Off the Clock podcast. Dr. Stoddard is the author of three books: The Big Book of ACT Metaphors: A Practitioner’s Guide to Experiential Exercises and Metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; Be Mighty: A Woman’s Guide to Liberation from Anxiety, Worry, and Stress Using Mindfulness and Acceptance; and Imposter No More: Overcome Self-doubt and Imposterism to Cultivate a Successful Career. Her writing has also appeared in Psychology Today, Scary Mommy, Thrive Global, The Good Men Project, and Mindful Return. She regularly appears on podcasts and as an expert source for various media outlets. She lives in Newburyport, MA with her husband, two kids, and disobedient French Bulldog.
Michael Herold, Co-Host
Michael (he/him) is a confidence trainer and social skills coach, based in Vienna, Austria. He’s helping his clients overcome their social anxiety through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and fun exposure exercises. (Though the jury is still out on whether they’re mostly fun for him). He is also a certified therapeutic game master, utilizing the Dungeons&Dragons tabletop roleplaying game to train communication, assertiveness, and teamwork with young adults. Or actually, anyone ready to roll some dice and battle goblins in a supportive group where players want to level up (pun!) their social skills. Michael is the head coach of the L.A. based company The Art of Charm, running their confidence-building program “Unstoppable” as well as workshops on small talk, storytelling, vulnerability, and more. He is the scientific advisor and co-producer of their large podcast with more than 250 million downloads. As a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), Michael is the current President of the ACT Coaching Special Interest Group with nearly 1,000 coaches worldwide, and the co-founder of the ACT in Austria Affiliate of ACBS, a nationwide meetup for ACT practitioners in Austria. He’s a public speaker who has spoken at TEDx, in front of members of parliament, universities, and once in a cinema full of 500 kids high on sugary popcorn. In a previous life, he was a character animator working on award-winning movies and TV shows such as “The Penguins of Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda”. That was before he realized that helping people live a meaningful life is much more rewarding than working in the film business – even though the long nights in the studio allowed him to brew his own beer in the office closet, an activity he highly recommends. Michael grew up with five foster kids who were all taken out of abusive families. His foster sisters showed him how much positive change is possible in a person if they have the love and support they need.
Emily Edlynn, PhD, Co-Host
Emily (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in pediatric health psychology who works in private practice with children, teens, and adults. She has a BA in English from Smith College, a PhD in clinical psychology from Loyola University Chicago, and completed postgraduate training at Stanford and Children’s Hospital Orange County. Emily spent almost ten years working in children’s hospitals before pivoting to private practice, which allowed her to start a writing career. Emily has written her blog, The Art and Science of Mom, since 2017 and a parenting advice column for Parents.com since 2019. Emily’s writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, Scary Mommy, Good Housekeeping, Motherly, and more. She recently added author to her bio with her book, Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent Confident Children and has a Substack newsletter. Emily lives with her husband, three children, and two rescue dogs in Oak Park, IL where she can see Chicago’s skyline from her attic window.
Jaidine Stout-Williams, Podcast Manager
Jaidine is a Podcast Production Manager and owner of JSW Podcast Assistant. She collaborates with podcasters to streamline production and grow their listenership, while boosting their online presence by overseeing the production cycle, from editing and transcription to content writing, publication, and promotion. Passionate about empowering creators and entrepreneurs, Jaidine is committed to making podcasting accessible to anyone who wants to share meaningful conversations and create content that makes a positive difference.
Our Very Serious Team
Our Former Team Members
POTC has been going strong for over six years! Here are some of the folks who have contributed to the podcast over the years. We are grateful to everyone who has contributed to Psychologists Off the Clock, and to our guests and listeners. As they say, it takes a village!
Yael Schonbrun, PhD, Former Co-host
Yael (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist who wears a number of professional hats: she a small private practice specializing in evidence-based relationship therapy, she’s an assistant professor at Brown University, and she writes for nonacademic audiences about working parenthood. She has a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and completed her postgraduate training at Brown University. In all areas of her work, Yael draws on scientific research, her clinical experience, ancient wisdom (with an emphasis on Taoism), and real life experiences with her three little boys. You can find out more about Yael’s writing, including her book, Work, Parent, Thrive, and about her research by clicking the links. You can follow Yael on Twitter or Instagram where she posts about relationship science or subscribe to her newsletter, Relational, to get the science of relationships in your email inbox!
Diana Hill, PhD, Former Co-host
Diana is a clinical psychologist and co-author of ACT Daily Journal: Get unstuck and live fully with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Through her online teachings, executive coaching, clinical supervision, and private therapy practice Diana encourages clients to build psychological flexibility so that they can live more meaningful and fulfilling lives. Diana has a knack for unpacking complex, science-based concepts and making them applicable to daily life in work, parenting, relationships and health. She completed her undergraduate work at UC Santa Barbara, majoring in Biopsychology, followed by a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at CU Boulder where she researched mindfulness and acceptance based approaches for eating disorders. Diana practices what she preaches as a mom of two, homesteader, and yoga teacher. Learn more about her latest offerings here and get more at drdianahill.com. Also follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to get tools to build psychological flexibility into your daily life.
Rae Littlewood, PhD, Former Co-host
Dr. Rae Littlewood is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides psychotherapy for individual and couples in Albuquerque, NM. She completed her doctorate in clinical psychology with an emphasis in health psychology at Syracuse University in New York and her internship at the Albuquerque Veterans Hospital and University of New Mexico Hospital. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship, specializing in treatment of substance use disorders, at The Mind Research Network, she joined Behavior Therapy Associates in 2011. Dr. Littlewood works with adolescents and adults facing a variety of concerns including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, health behaviors, and substance use problems. She also provides emotion-focused therapy (EFT) for individuals and couples, which can be helpful for individuals or couples who want to improve the health and quality of their relationships. Dr. Littlewood also offers psychotherapy focusing on topics related to reproductive health.
Katy Rothfelder, M.A., LPC-A, Former Dissemination Coordinator
Katy Rothfelder (she/her), LPC-Associate is a licensed clinician in Austin, Texas and POTC’s dissemination coordinator! She has received a number of advanced trainings in applied behavior analysis, ACT, and CBT. She holds her B.A. in Communication Studies, focusing on interpersonal factors in disclosing and relating to mental illness. Prior to entering her graduate degree, Katy worked for several years in the development and marketing of local nonprofits, and provided ABA services to early learners with autism and other developmental disabilities. She provides upwards of 15 hours a week in volunteer service to numerous organizations such as the International OCD Foundation, The Association for Contextual Behavioral Sciences, and the POTC podcast! A new clinician, Katy is committed to specializing and supporting individuals suffering with OCD and related disorders and provides evidence based treatment in individual and intensive programs at Austin Anxiety and OCD Specialists in Austin, Texas.
Melissa Miller, M.S., Former Editorial Coordinator
Melissa (she/her) is a doctoral student in Wichita State University’s (WSU) Clinical and Community Psychology program. At WSU, she works with Dr. Rachel Petts and Dr. Robert Zettle in the Integrated Behavioral Health and Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS) Lab and teaches Psychology of Learning. She has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Mississippi and a M.S. in Psychology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She loves learning and talking about all things related to CBS, grief and bereavement, language, and social justice. When she isn’t doing school and research work, she’s probably hanging out with her two cats, listening to podcasts, and watching Harry Potter.
Katharine Foley-Saldeña, PsyD, Former Editorial Coordinator
Katharine is a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Diana Hill’s psychotherapy practice in Santa Barbara, California. Katharine received her PsyD in Clinical Psychology from the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium at Palo Alto University where she received specialized health psychology training at the Stanford Pain Management Center, the Stanford Sleep Health and Insomnia Program, and the Stanford Adult Eating and Weight Disorders Program. Katharine is a passionate ACT clinician and integrative medicine practitioner who empowers her clients to optimize their mental well-being to live full and meaningful lives. In her downtime Katharine enjoys spending time on the water and in the mountains with her partner and two boys.
Kati Lear, PhD, Former Dissemination Coordinator
Dr. Lear is a licensed clinical psychologist, associate investigator, and director of continuing education at Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, and Training Center. Her research and clinical interests focus on developing interventions grounded in contextual behavioral science to help clients suffering from chronic shame, self-criticism, and social isolation and enhance self-compassion, psychological flexibility, and social connectedness. To learn more about Dr. Lear’s research, please visit her researchgate page.
