Leadership Team

Dr. Haskell joined JJPI as its Executive Director in January 2017. He has a Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina and is a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania. Over the last twenty years, his focus has been on the design, implementation, and direction of child and adult community mental health programs. Dr. Haskell has served as the clinical and administrative director of several publicly-funded mental health programs in Philadelphia and surrounding communities. These programs have been located in traditional clinics as well as in school-based settings. In 2010, he assumed the role of Director of Social and Psychological Services for a nationally-recognized network of charter schools, where he was instrumental in creating its social work and counseling/therapy programs. Prior to assuming the role of Executive Director at JJPI, Dr. Haskell served as the Chief Program and Clinical Officer at a Philadelphia-based behavioral health and social services provider.

Dr. Haskell is interested in the application of evidence-based practice in community and school settings, trauma-informed settings, the design and implementation of effective prevention programs, and the use of performance-based data to aid in program improvement.

Dr. Brandi Stewart received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri and began working at JJPI in 2014 as Director of JJPI's Safety and Responsibility Program. From 2017 to 2021, she served as JJPI's Director of Clinical Services. As Deputy Executive Director at JJPI, Dr. Stewart is responsible for the clinical and administrative oversight of all of JJPI’s treatment programs and also provides oversight for several of JJPI's community-based programs.

Dr. Stewart is a Pennsylvania-licensed psychologist with more than 15 years of experience working with trauma in both survivors of and perpetrators of sexual violence. She has a specialized interest in working with adolescents and young adults who have engaged in sexually abusive behaviors. Dr. Stewart has been supervising both pre- and post-doctoral level students for more than 15 years. She has presented talks on various topics within the sexual violence field at conferences at the national, state, and local levels, as well as at many local medical colleges and universities, and many local behavioral health and juvenile justice programs. In addition, Dr. Stewart has been a featured guest on several radio shows, including WHYY’s Radio Times.

Dr. Stewart has been a clinical member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers since 2006. Additionally, she is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, and the Sexual Offender Assessment Board (SOAB) of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to her work at JJPI, Dr. Stewart maintains a part-time private practice.

Donald Kushon, M.D., received his medical degree and Psychiatry Residency training from the Hahnemann University School of Medicine (presently Drexel University College of Medicine) in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Kushon joined JJPI in 2017 as Medical Director of Adult Services. He is board certified in Adult Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine, Addiction Medicine, and Geriatric Psychiatry.  He has a faculty appointment of Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Drexel University where he maintains an affiliation.  He has worked extensively in General Hospital Consult Psychiatry, Emergency Room Psychiatry and Inpatient Psychiatry.  He served as a Medical Director of the Psychiatric Medical Care Unit at Hahnemann Hospital for several years.   He also has a longstanding Psychopharmacology outpatient practice.   He has been a teacher to medical students and residents for many years and has made numerous presentations and publications on a variety of topics to regional and national audiences. 

David M. Harwitz, M.D., is a board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. He joined JJPI in 2017 as Medical Director of Child & Adolescent Services. He received his medical degree from The Hahnemann University School of Medicine (presently Drexel University College of Medicine) in Philadelphia, PA, followed by training in Adult, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY.  In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks he acted as Child & Adolescent Director of Disaster Psychiatry Outreach, P.C., a non-profit organization which provided mental health services during The City of New York’s crisis response. Prior to his current position, he served as Medical Director of The C.A.S.T.L.E  Children’s Program at Virtua in Camden, New Jersey, a community-based treatment center providing therapeutic mental health services for at-risk children and families.

Lan Nguyen first started working at JJPI in 2014 as a co-op student during her undergraduate program at Drexel University. While at Drexel, Lan served as the Head Manager of Operations for Drexel’s Division I men’s basketball team. After she graduated from Drexel in 2016, Lan received a M.S. in Mental Health Counseling from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine with a concentration in addictions counseling. Lan continued to work as a case manager and administrative coordinator at JJPI during her graduate school training and was hired as JJPI’s Operations Manager in 2018. In 2022, Lan was promoted to a position as Director of Administration. In this position, Lan oversees all administrative departments at JJPI and also helps to lead JJPI’s Community, Intake, and Prevention (CIP) team. In 2022, Lan graduated from Jefferson University’s iMBA program where she was the recipient of the Matt Glass Entrepreneurship Award.

David joined JJPI in 2022 as the Director of JJPI's Safety and Responsibility Programs, which include JJPI's adult outpatient treatment programs for individuals with a history of sexual offending and/or perpetration of relational violence, JJPI's Partial Hospitalization Program, and JJPI's Youth Safety and Responsibility outpatient treatment program. David graduated from Villanova University with a Master of Science in Counseling and Human Relations and is a licensed professional counselor in Pennsylvania with over 25 years of clinical practice and leadership serving individuals and programs related to sexual trauma and problematic sexual behaviors. His experience includes supervising clinical work, leading teams, and developing and managing programs, emphasizing evidence-based tools and practices. He also has significant experience in professional training, including public speaking and the creation of effective training curricula. Prior to coming to JJPI, David served as a clinical director of several residential programs serving more than 200 individuals with histories of sexual offending, where he was responsible for overseeing ongoing sexual risk and sexual behavior health assessments and treatment planning.  David is a member of the Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (ATSA) and maintains a private practice in Newtown, Bucks County.

Dr. Catherine Verdeur received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Dr. Verdeur is a Pennsylvania licensed psychologist with more than 20 years of experience working within behavioral health systems that serve children, adolescents, and families. She has a specialized interest in working with children and adolescents with histories of trauma and abuse. As Director of Survivor and Community-Based Services at JJPI, Dr. Verdeur is responsible for the clinical oversight of JJPI’s Survivor Services program, including evidenced based practices for healing from trauma and grant funded programs within the community.

Dr. Verdeur has been supervising both pre- and post-doctoral level psychology students and master’s degree students in counseling and social work for more than 20 years. She has presented on various topics within the field and has partnered with hospitals, managed care companies, and county behavioral health offices to provide training for multidisciplinary teams. Additionally, Dr. Verdeur has served as an adjunct graduate faculty at Chestnut Hill College and LaSalle University clinical psychology programs. Dr. Verdeur is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Pennsylvania Psychological Association.

Dr. Julie Curcio-Alexander is a licensed psychologist who serves as the Evaluations Coordinator and as a Supervising Psychologist in Survivor Services.  She completed her graduate training at Villanova University, Temple University and John Jay College, City University of New York. Dr. Curcio-Alexander provides clinical and administrative supervision of the evaluations team, as well as training and clinical supervision to doctoral clinical psychology students. Dr. Curcio-Alexander is trained in relational, cognitive and exposure-based psychotherapies for trauma-related and mood disorders. She also serves as an expert witness in child sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, child pornography, and child protective services cases, and has been admitted as an expert in PA Common Pleas and Federal Courts. She has published peer reviewed articles and chapters and provides continuing medical and legal education on child sexual abuse investigations, the impact of trauma on children’s development, and children with disabilities who have been maltreated. She is a frequent guest lecturer at the Perelman School of Medicine Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program. Previously, Dr. Curcio-Alexander had clinical and administrative oversight of the forensic evaluation service at the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.

Caitlin Frett is a licensed professional counselor who serves as the Director of Youth Problematic Sexual Behavior (PSB) and Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Programs within JJPI's Survivor Services and Youth Safety and Responsibility Programs. Caitlin began working as a therapist at JJPI in 2011 and was promoted to Coordinator of Youth Problematic Sexual Behavior (PSB) Programs in 2019 and to her current role in 2023. She completed her undergraduate training at LaSalle University and her graduate studies at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM). She additionally earned a Graduate Certification in working with Survivors of Violence, Trauma and Torture from the University of Maryland. In her role, Caitlin provides clinical and administrative supervision of the teams providing clinical services to children and youth who demonstrate problematic sexual behaviors. In addition, she coordinates all of JJPI's Evidence-Based Practices and programs and is a primary supervisor for the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) treatment teams and JJPI's school-aged and adolescent Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Problematic Sexual Behaviors (PSB-CBT) teams. Caitlin is trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and is a certified within agency trainer for the school-aged and adolescent Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Problematic Sexual Behaviors (PSB-CBT).