Who We Are

The Northern New Mexico DBT team was developed in 2005 and provides adherent DBT services to adults.  All of our therapists have been intensively trained and participate in weekly consultation team meetings. We are committed to providing compassionate and evidence based treatment and to this end have been active members of the Evidence Based Practice Institute since 2013.  

Meet Our Team

Abby Braun
​LISW, PhD
DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™

Abby completed her graduate studies at the University of Denver and received a Masters in Clinical Social Work in 1984 and completed a PhD in Human Communication in 1986.  In 1993 she opened a private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Ten years later she was intensively trained in DBT by Behavioral Tech and has provided both comprehensive and adherent DBT since that time.  Abby has completed over 200 hours of continuing education credits in DBT and was a founding member of the Northern New Mexico DBT Team. She currently is attending  the 2019-2020 Certificate Program in Mindfulness and Psychotherapy through the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy.

Nomi Green
MA LPCC

Nomi has been a mindfulness practitioner for over 45 years.  She teaches mindfulness both in her therapy practice and at retreats.  She has studied intensively in a number of mindfulness traditions including secular forms and applied neuroscience.    She has a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Southwestern College and is a Nationally Board Certified Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor.  Nomi has a private practice in Santa Fe where she works with individuals.  She is a certified DBT therapist from the DBT Linehan Board of Certification.     She is the only intensively trained therapist in New Mexico who offers full protocol Prolonged Exposure trauma treatment within DBT.  She has also intensively studied Attachment therapy, Child Parent Psychotherapy, and Infant Mental Health and applies all of these principles in her work with adults. She also works with trauma, body image issues, binge eating, and LGBTQI issues.

Kathleen Benecke
MA LPCC IMH-E IV

After a 21 year career as a Pediatric, Hospice and HIV nurse, Kathleen received her Master of Arts in Counseling from the University of New Mexico in 1997 and is Nationally Board Certified Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. She initially worked as a Hospice counselor in Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties. In 1999 she was instrumental in establishing the Community Infant Program which was the first Infant Parent Mental Health program in Santa Fe. In 2007 she was intensively trained in DBT and has been interested in incorporating that work into Infant Mental Health. She has been endorsed by the New Mexico Association of Infant Mental Health (NMAIMH) since 2008. She is also intensively trained in the Circle of Security Parenting Model and is a Registered Circle of Security Parent Educator.  In June 2015, she completed an eighteen month training in CPP-Child Parent Psychotherapy. Kathleen has been in Private Practice since October 2012 and has been a member of the Northern New Mexico Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Team since December 2012.

Michelle
Peixinho
LMSW, IMH-E

Michelle is the newest member of the team, now growing her practice in Española. Michelle works for the Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services Department, with individuals who are living with substance use and incarceration. She has an 18-year background in maternal child health working in early intervention and crisis intervention programs. She is a New Mexico Licensed Midwife and holds a Level 2 Infant Mental Health Endorsement. She has practiced mindfulness for 15 years, first through providing mindfulness-based childbirth education and soon developing her own personal practice. She earned her social work license in 2018 and started with the NNM DBT team in 2019.