PLAYSPACE Staff

Sonya Kurzweil, Ph.D., Director, Group Leader, Psychotherapist
Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Kurzweil is a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist with experience in clinical and developmental research. She received her B.S. in Eduation from the University of Michigan and her graduate training at Tufts University: M.Ed in Child Study, M.S. in Psychology and Ph.D. in a Combined program of Child Study and Psychology. She has done clinical training at the Human Relations Service in Wellesley MA and postdoctoral fellowships at Children's Hospital, Boston and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA. She has worked at the Children's Hospital, Boston and the Massachusetts General Hospital. Her publications include research articles in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and in the journal Infant Behavior and Development. She teaches Early Childhood-Family Mental Health in the clinical psychology training program at the Boston Children's Hospital.

Dr. Kurzweil is Founder and Director of , (www.skdc.org), a nonprofit organization which offers the PLAYSPACE Program. She is the PLAYSPACE adult group leader and provides individual consultations and psychotherapy for women, children, parents and families at SKDC. She lives in Newton MA with her husband. They have two children.

 


(Left to right, Satu and Sonya)

 

Satu Mehta, MS, Assistant Director, PLAYSPACE Teacher

Ms Mehta received her undergraduate degree in Child Development and Early Childhood Education from the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her MS at Wheelock College in Educational Administration and Infant Toddler Education. She taught young children in two Cambridge based child care centers for three years before moving into teacher education and training at Wheelock College in 1987. As an Instructor in Early Childhood Education between 1987 and 2000, Ms. Mehta has taught both undergraduate and graduate students. In December 2000, Ms. Mehta began as a senior associate at the Educational Development Center in Newton, Ma., where she works on programming and staff development for Early Head Start. She has close ties to the Greater Boston early childhood community, both through her extensive supervision of student interns and her private consulting to many of these programs. Her focus on educating caregivers and teachers of infants and preschoolers is complemented by a deep belief in the importance of supporting families and young children. Ms. Mehta is a long time resident of Cambridge, MA., where she lives with her husband. They have two children.

 

 

Ms Eltha Phillibert, A.A. Liberal Arts, PLAYSPACE Assistant Teacher

Ms Phillibert received her Associates Degree from LaSalle College in 1968. She began her career as a community health educator, at the Roxbury MA Community Health Education Program and served as a social work intern at the Beth Israel Hospital in the early 1970s. Following this she began a long career at the New England Telephone Company, first as a service representative and then in the 1990s in a managerial position. She was awarded early retirement from the latter in 1996 and has since that time continued in a part time managerial position at Babbitt Designs of Watertown MA. Ms Phillibert is pleased to be currently pursuing both her managerial expertise at Babbitt and her earlier interest in children and families in the PLAYSPACE Program and with Parents-in-a-Pinch, Boston, MA. Ms Phillibert lives in Roxbury MA. She is the mother of two young men.