Caitlin Gardiner, MD

Dr. Delima-Tokarz is double Board Certified in Psychiatry and Lifestyle medicine. She completed her psychiatry residency training at the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt, where she served as the chief resident. She has practiced in various settings over her career, including working for the Department of Defense, private practice, and community mental health. Dr. Delima-Tokarz is fluent in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. Dr. Delima-Tokarz has more than five years of experience treating patients with anxiety, depression, PTSD, Bipolar, OCD, ADHD, and other mental health issues. She employs pharmacotherapy along with supportive therapy and integrative approaches. Dr. Delima-Tokarz is currently working on completing her Ph.D. in Integrative Medicine and is passionate about a holistic and integrative approach to mental health. Her philosophy includes a healing-oriented approach that considers the whole person, including all lifestyle aspects. Dr. Delima-Tokarz aims to provide collaborative and comprehensive care, which may include medication management, lifestyle interventions, stress reduction techniques, and other integrative approaches. She believes building a strong therapeutic relationship where the patient feels empowered is the key to healing.‍

Melissa Medina, LCSW, began her journey in mental healthcare with a Bachelor’s in Psychology followed by a Master of Social Work degree. From 2015 to 2018, she completed her clinical hours at a community mental health agency in Los Angeles, where she gained experience working with diverse populations facing complex challenges. Melissa’s therapeutic approach integrates psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, strengths-based, dialectical behavioral, and EMDR modalities. She is dedicated to providing culturally sensitive, neurodivergent-friendly, person-centered care to support individuals and families navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, panic attacks, grief, family conflict, and life transitions.

Melissa believes therapy is both a journey and a destination. She takes an eclectic approach, tailoring interventions and communication to best fit each patient’s needs and preferences. Patients can expect an atmosphere of warmth, empathy, and collaboration. Through motivational interviewing and narrative techniques, Melissa helps individuals articulate their stories, identify strengths, and reframe challenges as opportunities for growth. She is committed to meeting patients where they are while supporting them in reaching their goals.

Melissa’s process begins with building rapport, listening to each patient’s story, and understanding their unique needs and hopes for therapy. Early sessions focus on creating a safe, supportive space while developing a treatment plan tailored to the individual. Patients can expect to gain fresh perspectives, practical coping strategies, and deeper self-awareness. Melissa’s goal is for patients to feel heard, understood, and empowered as they strengthen relationships, build resilience, and move toward a greater sense of fulfillment.

Dr. Christopher DeBernard is a board-certified psychiatrist with extensive clinical leadership experience. He earned his MD and completed a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at Tulane University School of Medicine. Previously board certified in Internal Medicine, he is especially comfortable caring for patients with medical comorbidities. Dr. DeBernard has worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings and held leadership roles as Chief Medical Officer at Arisa Health and Lotic.ai. He also brings a systems-thinking perspective to clinical care from earlier careers in engineering and consulting. He holds active medical licenses in Louisiana and Arkansas.

Dr. DeBernard strives to create a warm, collaborative environment where patients feel respected, understood, and supported. His approach combines evidence-based medicine with an appreciation for each patient’s unique story, values, and motivations. Patients can expect open, direct communication, shared decision-making, and treatment plans that align with their personal goals. Trust, empathy, and authenticity form the foundation of his therapeutic relationships.

Dr. DeBernard begins by listening closely to each patient’s history, concerns, and hopes for treatment. Together, he works with patients to establish clear goals and develop individualized care plans that may include therapy, medication management, and lifestyle approaches. His focus is on both symptom relief and building long-term resilience, helping patients develop strategies that sustain well-being. Over time, he collaborates with patients to adapt treatment as their needs evolve, ensuring care remains effective and personalized.

Lance Briggs is a dedicated Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with over a decade of clinical and leadership experience. A graduate of the University of North Dakota, Lance began as a psychiatric RN in acute inpatient settings before becoming a psychiatric RN supervisor in a major Houston hospital while pursuing advanced practice.

After becoming a PMHNP, Lance initially worked with outpatient addiction treatment and severe mental illness populations, later expanding into bariatric psychiatry to support patients preparing for weight-loss surgery. When the COVID-19 pandemic paused bariatric procedures, Lance founded a private practice—Grey Matters Mental Health—in Seattle, which was later sold to a larger healthcare organization in Minnesota. Lance then transitioned into correctional mental health, serving underserved populations within the criminal justice system. Currently, Lance is working at Talkiatry, providing compassionate, high-quality care informed by experience across diverse and challenging environments.

Lance understands that every patient is unique. His approach is grounded in Carl Rogers’ principle of unconditional positive regard, creating a safe, calming space where patients feel heard and valued. Lance takes time to explore developmental history, family background, and major life events, recognizing how past experiences shape present challenges. He aims to understand each symptom fully and offers thoughtful, collaborative treatment options.

Dr. Whitehouse is a board-certified adult psychiatrist with a strong background in neuroscience and psychopharmacology who has been in practice for over 25 years. At the heart of Dr. Whitehouse's clinical approach is a strong emphasis on establishing trust, building a therapeutic relationship to help patients achieve their goals, and helping people better understand their brain, its strengths, and vulnerabilities and how to use assessment and training to maximize everyone's unique emotional and cognitive capacity. Dr. Whitehouse's practice focuses on medication management. Typically, he offers this in conjunction with supportive or emotionally focused therapy in 30-minute follow-up visits. Occasionally Dr Whitehouse may believe that additional therapy is also needed and ask that you bring a therapist into your care team to provide the best outcome. He received his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School and went on to complete his residency in psychiatry at MGH in Boston. After completing training, Dr. Whitehouse has worked in every setting from a Community Mental Health Center in rural VT, a General Hospital Department of Psychiatry in Waterbury CT, and a private psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts He has held academic clinical appointments at Dartmouth, Yale and Harvard and provided supervision to medical students, residents, APRNs, Social Workers and Mental Health Clinicians. In addition to his direct clinical work, he has extensive experience with value-based care having worked with the behavioral divisions of CIGNA Behavioral Health, Optum Behavioral Health and MCG. He also has been involved in the latest approaches made possible in mental health by the growth of direct-to-consumer services as part of digital transformation. He believes that every patient is unique and every situation different. He seeks to bring a wealth of experience to bear but, above all, to do so with a personalized and compassionate focus on what will help everyone specifically, practically, effectively, and efficiently. He is especially happy to help people new to emotional help understand the value of different approaches.

Dr. Natalie Cummings is a board-certified adult psychiatrist, and board-eligible geriatric psychiatrist. She obtained her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed her residency training in psychiatry at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital. She then went on to complete her geriatric psychiatry fellowship at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. During her fellowship, Dr. Cummings participated in Mount Sinai's Visiting Doctors Program, providing patient-centered and compassionate care to homebound elder adults in New York City. She also received training at Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing Care Center on Roosevelt Island during her fellowship, and presented at the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry annual meeting. During her training, Dr. Cummings gained extensive experience providing psychiatric care to various patient populations in multiple patient care settings, including in the outpatient clinic, inpatient unit, and emergency department. Following her training, Dr. Cummings worked at New York Presbyterian's Gracie Square Hospital, serving first in the position of float psychiatrist, providing care to patients on every inpatient psychiatric unit (including the young adult/college student program, Orthodox Jewish program, psychotic disorders program, crisis-stabilization program, dual focus program, and Asian Psychiatry program), before transitioning to an established psychiatric attending for the older adult program. During her time at Gracie Square Hospital, Dr. Cummings received the Physician of the Year Award, and served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. She worked closely alongside staff psychologist, social workers and nurses to provide multidisciplinary, collaborative care to patients suffering from a variety of mental health conditions. Dr. Cummings primarily focuses on medication management and supportive psychotherapy, but has extensive training in utilizing various therapy modalities, including cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, reminiscence therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. When appropriate, Dr. Cummings will refer for more extensive psychotherapy and/or collaborate with your established psychotherapist for comprehensive care. Dr. Cummings strongly believes that addressing psychosocial and interpersonal factors (including relationship health, economic stressors, social isolation and loneliness) is as essential as pharmacologic management in treating mental health conditions. She has particular experience and interest in treating older adults and those suffering from memory disorders, but provides treatment for a variety of psychiatric conditions including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorders, trauma-related disorders and substance use disorders. Dr. Cummings is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.