W. Gaan Akers, LPC, NCC (She/Hers)

Gaan has been working with children, adolescents, and families for over 10 years in various settings. Most of her professional career has been in psychiatric care settings where her focus was providing therapeutic treatment to children, adolescents, and families. She has facilitated countless parent groups, individual therapy, and family sessions in both outpatient clinic and hospital settings. She completed her Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Mercer University. She is intensively trained in DBT and Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT).

She is the Director of Clinical Education and Outreach at Hillside, a nationally recognized mental health hospital for children and adolescents. In her current role, she relies on her expertise and clinical experience to perform clinical case-consultations with mental health clinicians. She serves as the Hillside’s clinical expert in the organization’s media engagement with television and radio interviews and is an experienced presenter at state and national conferences. She also facilitates continuing educations workshops and skills training for mental health professionals and the community.