Meet Your Doctors

Dr. Shahab received her medical degree from the Universidad Tecnologica de Santiago, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She completed her psychiatry residency at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, Bronx, NY, where she also served as the chief resident in her fourth year.

She received the distinguished “Resident Teacher of the Year” award from Cornell during her third year of residency. After graduating from Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, she joined Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY. Before joining Saint Francis, Dr. Shahab was on the staff of Saint Joseph’s Medical Center, Yonkers, NY, and at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, Bronx, NY.

She has served as a captain in the United States Air Force Medical Corps and is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law, and the American Academy of Women Psychiatrists.

Dr. Shahab works with the addiction population, forensic population, adolescents, adults as well as the geriatric population. Dr. Shahab has been in private practice since 2008, serving the Ellington area and local communities. She was the first private provider east of the River to provide an innovative treatment for depression named Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Urdu and Hindi.

Dr. Mojdeh Heidari is a family nurse practitioner specializing in mental health. She has experience in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and long-term care institutions. Dr. Heidari obtained her doctorate of nursing practice at Chamberlain University and attended United States University, Saint Joseph University, and Isfahan University to further her nursing education. She has worked in various medical settings, nationally and abroad, since 2005. She is fond of the geriatric population and its unique individual needs.

Joseph Boivin, a graduate of Springfield College, is a board-certified Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Connecticut practicing as a licensed professional counselor and licensed drug and alcohol counselor. With over 30 years of experience, Joseph’s education and professional background in both the mind and the body give him a unique and effective approach to counseling.

He works to provide clients with tailored treatment plans that can be integrated into their daily lives. Joseph has a master’s level education in rehabilitation counseling. Prior to becoming a counselor, he worked as a clinician and group facilitator at several upheld CT hospitals and clinics.

In addition to Joseph’s license, he holds many distinguished certifications in health promotion, wellness management, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). He continues to educate himself by attending national and local conferences, keeping up with current therapy research, and peer-to-peer supervision. Joseph resides in Manchester with his wife and enjoys volunteering at his local church. He also has a knack for carpentry and home renovations.

Dr. Schmidt is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides compassionate care for adults and adolescents at EBH in Ellington, CT. Dr. Schmidt received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Swarthmore College and then worked for three years as a psychotherapy researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. She subsequently earned her clinical psychology degree at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

She completed her internship at the Alexandria Community Mental Health Center in Virginia, an APA-approved site. She completed post-doctoral studies at the Hartford Institute of Living.

Dr. Schmidt has worked for several years as a field interviewer for RTI International, headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC. This critical research project is part of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Schmidt has also spent considerable time dedicated to youth at My Sisters’ Place in Hartford, CT, where she has worked with homeless families in specialized transitional and supported housing programs. As a tobacco treatment specialist, she was able to bring that expertise to her work as a case manager for a program blending behavioral and physical wellness care at CMHA in New Britain.

She has also worked in an outpatient substance abuse program run by Phoenix House. Dr. Schmidt is an activist and humanitarian. She was the founder and organizer of the Connecticut Meetup to Enhance Humanitarian Knowledge and Action, a local social group focused on learning more about global and local humanitarian causes and taking action to aid these causes.

In that role, she organized successful fundraising events to aid Haitian orphans and build schools in Sudan. As a therapist, she appreciates that we all have varied experiences and that no one moment, behavior, or trait defines us. Therapy is a chance to gain perspective and to use that new perspective to move forward.

Her early background was as a psychodynamic therapist, but more recently, she has adopted cognitive behavioral and other evidence-based therapies geared toward treating anxiety disorders and related conditions. At EBH, she works to help people attain new perspectives and new senses of well-being in their lives.

Christian Klein began working in the mental health field as a mental health worker at residential programs and Partial Hospitalization programs. He chose to attend Springfield College’s weekend Master’s in Social Work program and began individual counseling for adult clients with mental health and substance abuse issues as part of his internship for his Master’s.

Christian worked in the foster care system for several years and also worked in a psychiatric unit for children, adolescents, and adults. Most recently, Christian was a school counselor at a clinical school. He also did part-time private counseling with kids, teenagers, and adults. Christian has experience doing couples and individual counseling.

Moreover, he has received specialized training in Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART). This is a specialized therapy that allows the counselor to help the client lose the visual memory of trauma and the depression and anxiety connected to that trauma. Christian has a wealth of clinical experience with children and hopes to utilize his skills to provide young patients with skills of their own to improve overall mental health.