Counseling Staff

The Counseling Services office is staffed by licensed clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, and psychiatrists who specialize in mental health. The service also has advanced master’s-level interns from a variety of schools.

Our Staff

The Counseling Service staff embody a range of visible and invisible identities along the lines of race, socio-economic class, gender, sexuality, ability, culture, religion, immigrant, first-generation status and more. We commit to continually learning to work with a range of people and presentations using emerging interventions, research and student feedback.

Like you, we are infinitely intersectional and evolving.

Laurie Wildhagen

Administrative and Budget Coordinator

she/her
Laurie earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental geography at the University of Iowa. Before coming to Smith, she worked as an AIDS advocate in Hawaii, as a court advocate for survivors of domestic violence and in health care administration. In her free time, she can be found hiking a new trail with her kids, experimenting with new cookie recipes or getting lost in a new book.

Greenlee Brown, LCSW

Staff Therapist

he/they
Greenlee has been working at Smith since fall 2020. They have experience working with young queer and trans people, polyamorous people, people in BDSM communities, and with young people living with complex trauma. He aims to build a clinical practice grounded in relationship and vulnerability, and is particularly interested in somatic approaches to living with trauma and working with white people to divest from white supremacy. He has two black cats, Lover Boy and Boo, and too many books (some would say).

Noah Cochran, LICSW

Staff Therapist

they/them
Noah is a licensed clinical social worker trained at the Smith School of Social Work. Raised in the South, they then attended Bowdoin College in Maine, where they earned their bachelor's degree in psychology and education. They practice clinical work with a trauma-centered, attachment-informed, and relational lens grounded in social justice. They believe in the liberatory potential of healing through relationships and community, and their work focuses on grief, relational and structural trauma, and identity. Beyond their role as a therapist, Noah is an avid reader and a fledgling woodworker.

Meg Laird, LICSW

Staff Therapist

she/her
Meg graduated from Oberlin College with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. Following two siblings, she earned her master’s degree from Smith’s School for Social Work. She started her career in college counseling as a master’s intern, assigned to Duke University’s Counseling and Psychological Services. At Smith Counseling Services since 1992, she has helped thousands of Smith students navigate their college years and find more satisfaction in their lives. In addition to facilitating individual work on a variety of topics, she offers a beloved grief support group every semester. Certified in clinical supervision, she has worked with more than 20 master’s-level interns.

Susan Rees

Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurse

She/her
Throughout her career, Susan has worked across diverse settings, including roles in hospitals, academic research, community mental health and substance abuse clinics, and, most recently, as a school nurse during the Covid pandemic. Her multidisciplinary experience allows her to provide compassionate, holistic care tailored to the unique needs of each individual.

Outside of work, Susan enjoys reading, visiting her son in New Orleans, and spending time on distant trails with her two unruly dogs.

Nathalie Vaughn, LICSW

Staff Therapist

she/her
After leaving Guyana as a young adult, Nathalie became an Ada Comstock Scholar and graduated from Smith College with a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology. She continued her education by earning a master's degree in women’s studies from Southern Connecticut State University. Nathalie’s academic interests and commitment to individual empowerment led her into the community mental health field. After several years working to support women and families, Nathalie pursued a master of social work at the Smith School for Social Work before joining the Counseling Services staff.

Elena Volpe, LMFT

Staff Therapist

she/her
Elena is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She received her master’s degree in clinical psychology from Antioch University in Los Angeles. She has a private practice in Amherst, emphasizing an integrative approach to therapy. She developed Somapsychology, a method that unites breathwork, yoga and martial arts with traditional verbal practices. Elena’s clinical interests are far-ranging in that they encompass the broad cultural experience of gender, race and biculturalism, as well as the intimate sensed experience of the physical body.