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CTA Center for
Therapeutic
Advancement
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Our People

People committed
to a more thoughtful
future for therapy.

CTA brings together clinicians, scholars, educators, and other professionals committed to strengthening psychotherapy and supporting the people who practice it. Our leadership combines clinical experience, intellectual seriousness, and a shared responsibility for what comes next.

Guiding the Center

Executive Leadership

CTA's leadership is responsible for translating the Center's mission into education, scholarship, professional community, and public-facing work.

Michael Olan

Founder, Executive Director & President

Michael Olan

Psy.D.

Michael provides organizational, strategic, and intellectual leadership for CTA, with a focus on psychotherapy, professional development, and the conditions that support thoughtful and effective clinical work.

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Michael holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and has worked across psychiatric inpatient care, residential treatment, community mental health, forensic settings, and private practice.

His scholarship examines moral and ideological influences on psychotherapy, clinical judgment, and the conditions that support effective care. At CTA, he leads the development of the organization's mission, programs, partnerships, and professional community while helping shape its broader vision for the future of psychotherapy.

Jaco van Zyl

Founding Director of Scholarship & Publications

Jaco van Zyl

M.A.

Jaco leads CTA's scholarship and publications, cultivating serious inquiry and intellectual exchange across clinical traditions.

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Jaco is a South Africa-trained clinical psychologist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist whose clinical interests include trauma, personality, and mood disorders.

His writing explores psychoanalysis, group psychology, ideology, and the narratives that shape clinical and cultural life. At CTA, he helps preserve valuable knowledge, foster scholarly dialogue, and develop publications that connect clinical wisdom with contemporary questions.

Christine Sefein-Wolk

Founding Director of Training & Education

Christine Sefein-Wolk

LMFT

Christine leads the development of clinically meaningful learning opportunities that support practitioners across stages of professional development.

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Christine is a marriage and family therapist whose experience spans grief and trauma, outpatient care, professional education, and private practice.

She has served in clinical leadership, supervision, and graduate education. At CTA, she helps translate clinical knowledge into thoughtful educational experiences that support clinicians throughout the course of their careers.

Supporting the Mission

Staff

Our staff bring together communications, operations, digital strategy, and journalism to help turn the Center's mission into sustained work.

Leslie Elliott Boyce

Managing Editor of Journalism & Media

Leslie Elliott Boyce

Leslie leads the Center's journalism and media work, coordinating contributors and developing coverage of the issues that shape psychotherapy, professional training, and mental health care.

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An independent coach and consultant based in Washington State, Leslie has an educational background in clinical mental health counseling. She is co-founder of Solid Ground, an online peer support community, and host of The Radical Center podcast, which examines ideological bias in education and psychology.

At CTA, Leslie helps contributors turn complex questions into clear, accessible reporting. Working closely with the Executive Director and the media team, she supports coverage that examines gaps in knowledge and practice, considers different perspectives, and explores possibilities for improving care.

Melia Dunbar

Communications & Operations Officer

Melia Dunbar

Melia supports the Center's communications and day-to-day operations, helping translate its priorities into organized, coordinated work.

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Her background spans communications and administrative support in higher education and the nonprofit sector. She previously served as Communications Coordinator at Harvard University and Administrative Manager at a startup nonprofit.

Working closely with the Executive Director, Melia helps coordinate projects, maintain clear communication, and develop the organizational systems that support the Center's growing activities.

Joe Lucky

Innovation & Digital Strategy Officer

Joe Lucky

Joe supports the Center's digital strategy and organizational systems, helping develop the tools and processes that connect its people, programs, and professional community.

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A business development process engineer and founder of Neustac, Joe helps organizations turn complex, informal ways of working into clear systems that people and AI can use together. His work begins with understanding how information moves, where decisions happen, and where knowledge or coordination can be lost.

He then designs processes and technical systems that make work easier to understand, manage, and sustain, introducing AI and automation where they offer practical benefits.

At CTA, Joe works closely with the Executive Director to improve workflows, evaluate emerging technologies, and support the Center's digital infrastructure. His approach rests on a straightforward principle: don't automate the mess. Engineer the process first.

Honoring Our Foundations

Legacy Advisors

CTA's work has a lineage. Our Legacy Advisors are those who helped shape earlier chapters of the ideas, communities, and professional relationships that informed CTA's development. Their contributions remain part of the story we carry forward. The designation honors that legacy while recognizing that today's CTA is a distinct organization, with its own leadership, programs, and direction for the future.

Val Thomas

Legacy Advisor

Val Thomas

D.Psych., FHEA

Val brings an important connection to the intellectual history and earliest development of the work that preceded CTA.

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Val is a UK-based writer, educator, researcher, and former psychotherapist whose work has explored mental imagery, psychotherapy, professional culture, and the development of the field.

In 2020, she founded Critical Therapy Antidote and helped create a space for clinicians and thinkers interested in examining difficult questions about psychotherapy while remaining deeply invested in the profession and its future. That work contributed to the intellectual and professional community from which part of CTA's present-day work would later emerge.

Her place as a Legacy Advisor recognizes that contribution and preserves an important connection to an earlier chapter in CTA's history.

Carole Sherwood

Legacy Advisor

Carole Sherwood

DClinPsy

Carole brings a valued connection to CTA's earlier development and a career grounded in clinical service and concern for the profession.

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Carole is a retired UK clinical psychologist whose career included work across mental health, chronic pain, cancer care, and palliative care.

Her writing and professional contributions have examined the direction of clinical psychology and the responsibilities of the profession. As a Legacy Advisor, she helps preserve continuity between CTA's earlier development and the work now being carried forward.

Restoring the healing ethos of therapy.

Center for Therapeutic Advancement