Karen Nisenson, M.M., M.A., MT-BC

Founder/Director

Karen Nisenson holds a M.M. in Piano Performance from the Julliard School and an M.A. in Music Therapy from New York University. She is a certified music therapist and an adjunct faculty member in Music Therapy at NYU where she has taught since 1978. She is also affiliated with the Nordoff-Robbins Center at NYU and has worked in the field of creative arts therapy for 25 years. As a mother of five, composer and musician, Karen brings a wealth of experience to her work.

Billy Ayres

Musical Theater Workshop Coordinator

Billy Ayres specializes in improvisational musical theater with special needs children and adults. He has extensive experience in his approach that integrates many methods and forms of expression in theater arts: writing original plays and songs, improvisational acting and performances, movement, comedy, and mime. He is an artist-in-residence who has created, directed and performed more than fifty original musicals with special needs children and adults, at the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts, The Greenwich Youth Stage, Northern Westchester Boces, Norwest, and for Ability Beyond Disability, a rehabilitation facility where his work with traumatic brain injury victims received high praise by the New York Times. He conducts his workshops in a broad array of settings, from the theater, to the classroom, to community homeless shelters. His has received high acclaim in the Journal News for his work at the Westchester Arts Council, and has been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Billy is a published songwriter who has sung many national commercials for T.V. and radio, performing with Ben Vereen and Michael Bolton. He is developing a series of children’s books for special needs children and adults entitled “The Tiger and the Butterfly,” and has published “How to Conduct a Residency” for the Westchester Arts Council. He is a trained percussionist and a self-taught pianist and guitarist. He has created numerous cartoon voices for Fox 5’s children’s television show “Vanpires” both nationally and internationally. He is currently a staff writer for The Songs of Love foundation, donating original songs for children with terminal illness. He has been the host and emcee of ”Very Special Arts,” a showcase of special needs talent held at the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts.

Billy Ayres holds Masters in Special Education and a B.S. in psychology, is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Aftra.

Gabriel Lit, M.A., MT-BC

Music Therapist

Gabriel has a Masters degree in Music Therapy from New York University, and a B.A. in Music from the University of North Texas. Hailing originally from Austin, Texas, Gabriel loves being in the Northeast where he was first introduced to the concept of four actual "seasons," though he misses the Mexican food.

An avid traveler, his favorite hobby is collecting musical instruments from around the world and attempting to play them without lessons. His current favorite instrument to play is the bass clarinet, which he plays in his New York City-based improvising chamber ensemble, Evil Horns, but he typically enjoys playing anything he can make a noise with.

Gabriel plays bass in a rock band and is currently working on several compositions for different individuals and ensembles including chamber groups, big band, and orchestra in his rare spare time. He enjoys making soup in the winter, guacamole in the summer, and loves mango and watermelon year round.

Gina Barber

Art Therapist

Gina Barber has lived in New Canaan for 27 years. She and her husband, Al, have five grown children and five grandchildren. Gina is a graduate of Suny Purchase with a BFA, summa cum laude.

She has taught for the last fourteen years at St. Catherine Academy in Fairfield. St. Catherine serves children, five to twenty-one with intellectual disabilities, multi-handicapped, neurological impairment and autism. Gina has also taught painting to the homeless in South Norwalk and women coming out of homelessness at the Bowery Mission in New York City.

Some of you may remember Gina for her work at South Avenue Cottage or her pottery skills at the summer enrichment camp at Saxe.

Jennifer Ellyson

Dance/Movement Therapist

Jennifer Ellyson, M.A., R-DMT, received her master’s degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Columbia College Chicago.  Her clinical work combines her strengths and passions from dance and movement, child development and psychology.  Jennifer is also receiving post-graduate training in infant and child dance/movement psychotherapy in Dr. Suzi Tortora’s “Ways of Seeing” program.  In addition to her work as therapist, Jennifer is an experienced dance and movement educator, teaching children and adults of all ages.  She offers a holistic, mind-body approach to her engage her students fully.  To feed her creative soul, Jennifer dances and choreographs actively at home and in the dance studio.

Barbara Yahr

Music Therapist

Barbara is a field work student with Arts for Healing and is currently working for her M.A. at NYU in Music Therapy. She has an M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music in music theory, B.Mus. in orchestral conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music and a B.A. in music and philosophy from Middlebury College. As a conductor, Barbara has always tried to reach out to as many types of audiences as possible and feels that music therapy is a natural extension of that kind of music making.

In addition to her work at Arts for Healing, Barbara is the music director of the Greenwich Village Orchestra in Manhattan. She and her husband Alex Lerman live in Chappaqua, NY with their son Ben, who is 7.

Nancy Scorcia

Music Therapist

Nancy is a graduate of the Creative Arts Therapy program at The New School in New York City and also has a BFA in Arts Management from C. W. Post.   She is a trained vocalist, and plays acoustic guitar performing with singer/songwriter Lisa Jane Lipkin.   Nancy also plays piano and composes her own music and recently recorded a CD with the rock band Ceiling Unlimited.  After working in the record industry, Scorcia spent many years volunteering for community and school events, chairing several large galas and concerts while raising her five children. She began her relationship at Arts For Healing as an intern and continues to do both one-on-one and group outreach with preschool children and teens.  Nancy enjoys seeing live music, walking her dog and spending time outside.

Holly Doherty-Lemoine, CFRE

Director of Development

Holly has been working in fundraising since 1984. As a Development professional, she has held leadership positions in higher education, independent schools, a recreational non-profit organization and now a human services organization serving the Fairfield and Westchester County areas. She led the Annual Giving effort with Danbury Hospital for 5 years, during which time she ushered in consecutive years of impressive growth and was equally successful during her years directing the Annual Fund for New Canaan Country School. Prior to joining Arts For Healing, Holly served as the Director of Institutional Advancement at a three organization and most recently a college on Long Island.  Holly also worked in marketing in the private sector. 

Her undergraduate degree is from Boston College and she maintains her ties with her alma mater as a volunteer.  She is the past-president for the Fairfield County Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and has served on the board for 6 years. Holly lives with her husband Bruce in the New Canaan area for the past 25 years where they raised their three children.

Carol Cristini

Office Manager

Carol is the face of AFH.  She is the first person people talk to when they inquire about our services and the first face they see when they come for sessions.  In between, she keeps AFH running.