Kenneth Lai, MD

Dr. Dennis Valerstain is a board-certified Adult and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. After completing his undergraduate education at Emory University, he attended medical school at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He subsequently completed psychiatry residency at University of Miami/Jackson Health System and further sub-specialized at University of Miami/Jackson Health System with a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Valerstain has had the opportunity of working with a diverse array of patients including children, adolescents, the severely mentally ill, veterans, and cancer patients across three distinct hospital systems. Dr. Valerstain has had varied clinical experiences in specialty inpatient psychiatry units, emergency psychiatry, consultation liaison psychiatry, psycho-oncology, and outpatient clinics via telemedicine and face to face interactions. Dr. Valerstain has experience working with patients of all ages, particularly those with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD, Tic disorders, substance use disorders, and more. Dr. Valerstain's practice focuses on medication management and also employs empathic listening, supportive psychotherapy techniques, and a comprehensive and methodological approach to his visits. Given his broad and diverse training experiences, he enjoys problem solving and working collaboratively with patients (and their families) to navigate their complex issues and jointly focusing on simple solutions to work towards improving their mental health.

Dr. Govalla is an adult psychiatrist who completed her training at George Washington University and earned her medical degree from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She is deeply passionate about global mental health and is dedicated to educating her community.

Dr. Govalla values professionalism, honesty, and shared decision-making, using these principles to guide her evidence-based approach to care.

Her process is rooted in understanding each patient as a whole person—not just a diagnosis. She considers a patient’s history, environment, relationships, and personal journey to provide practical, individualized support that empowers them to reach their goals.

Dr. Steve Paschos is a board-certified Psychiatrist at Talkiatry. He attended Loyola University Chicago on the Lake Shore campus, completing a bachelor's degree in science and a Degree in Classical Studies. He then attended Medical School at Rush Medical College in Chicago and completed a 5-year combined Internal Medicine & Psychiatry residency in 2011. Dr. Paschos subsequently completed a 1-year fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at Rush University Medical Center. He has spent the last 12 years fulfilling his passion for integrating Internal Medicine & Psychiatry, working with a diverse range of patients suffering from severe mental illnesses. ‍Dr. Paschos' years of experience have included working at Cook County Health Services � Cermak Health Services at Cook County Department of Corrections with an extremely diverse patient population with varying psychiatric illnesses. He has also worked as an inpatient psychiatric hospitalist and as the director of the Intensive Care Unit at Chicago Behavioral Hospital in Illinois. Dr. Paschos also acted as a medical director of an IOP and established an outpatient psychiatric practice in conjunction with the Intensive Outpatient Program. He has had the opportunity and privilege of treating individuals who suffer from various diagnoses, especially challenging patients who have suffered from integrated or Med-Psych concerns involving primary mood disorders, Bipolar Affective disorders, prior trauma, severe medical problems/diagnoses along with concurrent personality pathology. ‍Dr. Paschos utilizes supportive psychotherapy, brief cognitive behavioral therapy, and at times psychodynamic therapy to address his patients' current complaints and to identify the locus of their symptoms. He believes in utilizing an all-encompassed approach using mindfulness and various psychotherapies along with comprehensive medication management. To quote Hippocrates "Where there is love for the art of medicine there is a love of humanity.”

Dr. Cheryl Person is the National Director of Clinical Quality at Talkiatry. She is board certified in general adult psychiatry and has been in practice for 20 years. Dr. Person focuses on medication management but believes that is only part of successful treatment. She will spend her time providing motivational interviewing or supportive therapy, and believes it is often critical to have a therapist as part of the treatment team. Dr. Person received her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine. She completed her psychiatric residency at Johns Hopkins and a psychiatric epidemiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on disaster mental health. After relocating to Texas in 2010, she worked as Director of Psychiatric Services of a large safety-net hospital in Houston. Prior to Talkiatry, she most recently was the executive director/chief physician of a large university student health center and campus pharmacy. In addition to adult psychiatry, Dr. Person has worked extensively with victims of acute trauma and her primary focus is on working with patients who have anxiety and mood disorders.

Angie Catlin DNP has been working in mental health for over a decade. She has experience working inpatient, outpatient, and intensive outpatient clinics. She has also worked as a provider in residential care centers and long-term care. She began as a BSN nurse, after graduating from Pittstate University in Kansas, in the critical care field before finding psychiatry at an inpatient child and adolescent hospital. Working with young patients in crisis led her to want to continue her education to become a psychiatric provider to address lack of access to care for those with mental health needs. Angie continued to help ensure those in need have access to care, and assisting her patients obtain the best outcomes became her passion.

She then enrolled in a dual master’s program to obtain her Master’s in Nursing and Master’s in Business for health care administration as she wanted to gather as much knowledge as she could on the barriers to care and to address those barriers. After finishing her dual Master’s with a MSN and MBA/HA from University of Phoenix, she enrolled in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at University of Missouri in Columbia to become a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. While in her Doctorate program she completed residencies in rural outpatient clinics, urban outpatient clinics, and nursing homes to understand the barriers for patients of all age groups in each level of care. Since graduating from Mizzou, Angie maintained her zealousness in making care available to all; working with diverse populations in every setting. She enjoys reading up on the latest research pertinent to her clients, including new medications and treatments on the horizon. Angie is an avid football fan and enjoys cooking, reading, live music, and spending quality time with her family including her Saint Bernard and two English bull dogs during her downtime.

Angie Catlin DNP has worked with patients suffering from anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, ADHD personality disorders, learning disabilities, insomnia, Autism, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s and dementia, Parkinson’s, Psychosis, Depression, Schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia. Angie has always been an advocate for those with mental health issues and is willing to do what is needed to help patient’s feel supported, educating her patients on current treatments and treatment options, and best practices. Moreover, Angie advocates for LGBT issues and understands the issues facing those who are LGBT in society.

She is compassionate about the care she provides as she wants patients to achieve their best life. She will always spend time with patients discussing medications to ensure decisions are a team decision between patient and provider. She has always included counseling and education as part of her practice to ensure her patient receive best evidenced based outcomes She believes that psychiatric care decisions should be made with the patient, not for the patient, so patients feel heard respected and understood.

Angie Catlin DNP begins her sessions with new patients by gathering a thorough history including family history, medical history, surgical history, medication and psychiatric history. This ensures that the whole patient is treated and their entire histories are considered in influencing how the patient came to her and what their issues may be. Angie is careful to listen to each patient and assess what is important to them along with goals they may have for their treatment. Angie collaborates with her patients in a team approach to develop treatment plans that the patient feels comfortable with in achieving their goals.  

She values open communication and individualized treatment plans that focus on each patient’s needs and the barriers they face helping to address those barriers so patients can achieve to live their best lives. Angie wants the best for all patients she treats and accepts her patients as they are and supports what they believe is vital to their needs. Angie is a firm believer that the patient knows what works for them and is always patient centered in her approach.

Dr. Helms is a graduate of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He completed his General Psychiatry and Child/Adolescent fellowship training at the University of Texas, Health Science Center at San Antonio. He has over 25 years of experience as a psychiatrist treating patients of all ages (child, adolescent, and adult�including geriatric) while working in a multitude of treatment settings including outpatient clinics and psychiatric hospitals. He also has several years of experience working as a psychiatric consultant for medical-surgical hospitals, seeing an extensive variety of patients on all floors of the hospital from mother-baby to pediatrics, as well as adult patients on the medical and surgical floors. Dr. Helms takes with him into each patient encounter, his wide breadth of experience and his genuine care and concern for each and every individual patient. He provides both medication treatment and talk therapy. He understands that many patients greatly benefit from either short or long term medication treatment; however, he also understands that talk therapy can oftentimes lead to significant, long lasting positive change, personal growth, and improvements in occupational and relationship success. Moreover, patients will always find Dr. Helms encouraging and supportive as they search for greater meaning and purpose in their lives.