Anjali Bindra Patel, Chief Diversity Officer at Georgetown University Law Center, is a longtime advocate and mentor in the field of diversity and equity with more than two decades of experience developing and executing diversity, equity, employment law, and inclusion leadership strategies. She previously served as the Global Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Winrock International, a non-profit humanitarian organization. She is also a member of the D.C. Bar Lawyer Assistance Committee. 
Before joining Winrock, Anjali was Co-Founder and CEO of Sweatours, assisting mission-driven companies to incorporate and integrate diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing into their organizational DNA. Anjali’s book, “Humanity at Work” discusses diversity and inclusion with remote workforces. Anjali holds a J.D. from Ohio State University College of Law and a B.A. in Business Management from Kent State University.

With over 8 years of experience as a psychotherapist in the DMV area, our local clinician Sahar Ganjalikhani has served a range of communities in the area that have had serious experiences of trauma and mental illness. Through a gentle and compassionate approach, Sahar has assisted clients in discovering their inner strength and resilience and helped them move towards a life of self sufficiency. A bicultural and bilingual therapist, Sahar uses a culturally sensitive and trauma informed lens in her practice. Trained in EMDR and ABFT she has experience providing individual, family, and group therapy and has been supervising clinicians in the field for over 4 years. Sahar is also a musician and an alumni of our very own Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C.

Niki Irish, LICSW, Outreach and Education Coordinator for the D.C. Bar Lawyer Assistance Program, has over 15 years of experience in the mental health field, with a focus on wellbeing and addiction. For over ten years she served as the Senior Counselor for the D.C. Bar Lawyer Assistance Program (LAP), providing lawyers and law students with addiction and mental health assessments, counseling, consultation and psychoeducation. Niki currently serves as the Outreach and Education Coordinator for the LAP providing a variety of trainings and educational seminars to law schools, legal employers, voluntary bar associations, and other legal organizations.

Niki has a B.S. in Psychology and Family Studies and an MSW from the University of Maryland School of Social Work, with a concentration in Employee Assistance Programs. She is licensed to practice clinical social work in the District of Columbia.

Dr. George Kolodner has been working to improve access to effective treatment for people with alcohol and drug problems since 1973, when he established the first outpatient addiction rehabilitation treatment program. That model, called “intensive outpatient” or “IOP,” has become a cornerstone of current addiction treatment in this country. Now extending this work with a focus on addiction to nicotine, he has designed an innovative treatment program that builds on traditional methods of addressing other addictive substances. Dr. Kolodner was recently appointed the Chair of the Nicotine and Tobacco Special Interest Group of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He is also a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Casey Miller handles wellness programming at GW Law, as well as performs academic advising services and organizes community engagement efforts. Casey also practices part-time in structured finance at Dechert LLP.  She is a member of the D.C. Bar's Lawyer Assistance Committee and has volunteered with the Lawyer Assistance Program for over a decade, helping law students and attorneys struggling with mental health and substance use issues.
Casey can be reached at casey.miller@law.guw.edu.

Charise Naifeh is the Principal of Happy Law Mom, where she helps lawyer moms create the legal practice of their dreams. It seems like motherhood and successful legal careers are incompatible. In fact, the reason women are leaving the law in droves is because of issues happening at home and in the workplace that are very solvable. When these problems are solved, moms no longer to have to leave the law to get enough sleep. It also leads to career success: getting the clients, cases, and promotions that they want. Charise describes her path to founding her company: “After learning some key skills (that they don’t teach in law school), my life began to get easier and I felt much happier and more empowered both at work and at home. I took control of my career in a new way. I got clear about what I wanted for my future. My home life improved dramatically, as I developed skills that I needed to manage motherhood as a lawyer. I shared what I was learning with others, and they saw dramatic improvements in their lives and careers, too. Happiness was no longer something we were striving for. We were already living it.”
The Happy Lawyer Mom podcast is available here or on Apple Podcasts.

Martha holds a Ph.D. in Family Science and an M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Kentucky, in addition to dual B.S. degrees in Human Development and Sociology from Virginia Tech. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Virginia and Maryland, a board-approved supervisor, and an AAMFT Clinical Fellow. Martha brings more than a decade of experience in behavioral health across multiple populations and behavioral health settings as a clinician, director, and executive. As a therapist and organizational leader, Martha specializes in communication, change management, vicarious trauma, integration and balance of personal and professional goals, and trauma-informed care and leadership.

Emily Whelden specializes in coaching lawyers and legal professionals navigating ADHD and provides support for individuals managing ADHD alongside chronic illness. Emily is an attorney-turned-coach who has trained extensively in ADHD coaching with Casey Dixon. As an attorney with ADHD, Emily experienced first-hand the lack of resources available in the legal field and left her practice of law to become a coach to other lawyers and high achievers with ADHD. Before beginning her coaching career, Emily trained and worked for six years as an attorney doing legal guardianship work and – without realizing it at the time – approached that role very similarly to how a Coach would. To empower clients, Emily would share new perspectives that helped them identify their goals and values, learn to evaluate their circumstances, explore potential outcomes to their choices, and learn how to be comfortable with their decisions – all things she believes are fundamental to her role as an ADHD coach. As a former attorney who also has multiple chronic health issues, she understands how difficult it can be to manage life while dealing with ADHD.

Tracy Winter specializes in coaching neurodiverse and twice-exceptional clients who are gifted and ADHD, as well as executives and leaders grappling with ADHD-related challenges. In addition to her coaching, Tracy also works with students through Rice University's Doerr Leadership Institute and serves as an ADHD coach trainer and mentor coach at the International ADHD Coach Training Center (iACT). She is credentialed as a PCC by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and facilitates leadership development for Tesla and other companies. She is also a Co-Founder of the Neurodiversity Coaching Academy. Tracy's background is expansive and multi-faceted, which serves her well in coaching high achievers with ADHD. Prior to becoming an ADHD coach, Tracy worked as a legislative researcher, a legal editor and writer, an adjunct professor, as well as a professional musical theater dancer. She received a PhD in Human Development, an MA in Human and Organization Systems, along with BA degrees in International Relations and Political Economy.