Meet the Group

Hutchinson & Associates offers a diverse group of therapists consisting of Psychologists and Professional Counselors.

  • Kathleen Wynne 
    Office Manager 
    (816) 361-0664 x 211
    222 West Gregory Blvd. Ste. 100, KCMO 64114

OUR THERAPISTS:

  • Arnold V. Abels, PhD
    Missouri Licensed Psychologist

Dr. Arnold Abels received his PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2001. He is a Missouri Licensed Psychologist. His professional interests include diversity and multiculturalism, men’s issues, crisis intervention, and physical disability. He has worked extensively with individuals from diverse backgrounds. Trained as a generalist, he works with a wide range of concerns including depression, anxiety/stress, mood disorders, trauma, issues related to physical disability, grief/loss, identity development, family and relationship issues, and spirituality. He works from an integrated holistic framework that incorporates person-centered, interpersonal, cognitive-behavioral and insight-oriented theories that values individual differences and diversity with the goal of identifying and developing personal strengths that will foster empowerment. Both late night and weekend appointments are available in the warm welcoming and accessible office space that is located near public transportation.

  • LaVerne A. Berkel, PhD
    Missouri Licensed Psychologist

Dr. LaVerne Berkel is a Missouri Licensed Psychologist who works with adults in individual psychotherapy. She is experienced in treating a wide range of emotional and relational concerns and incorporates cognitive behavioral and other therapeutic approaches in her practice. LaVerne is an Associate Professor in the counseling program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and conducts research that explores minority concerns, religious and spiritual issues, and health. She has a holistic approach and uses the therapeutic relationship to help clients develop strengths as well as address problems in their lives.

  • Lester E. Blue, Jr., PhD
    Owner, Missouri Licensed Psychologist

Dr. Lester Blue is a Missouri and Kansas Licensed Psychologist. He is experienced in treating adults and couples from diverse backgrounds for a variety of emotional, situational, personal growth and relationship issues. His treatment style is interactive and incorporates Cognitive-Behavioral, Psychodynamic, and Family Systems approaches.

  • Laura Dixon, LPC
    Missouri and Kansas Licensed Professional Counselor

Laura Dixon is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 10 years of experience in the mental health field who received her Master’s in Counseling and Guidance from UMKC.  She has training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma-focused CBT, Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT), and uses play therapy techniques as well to support clients to identify their best selves and take steps towards their goals.  She has completed ABA training and worked with individuals with autism and/or developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health disorders.  Laura works with individuals from all walks of life and all age ranges and enjoys supporting people through particularly difficult times.  She does her best work with people that identify as neuro-divergent, LGBT folks, and people that have been through very difficult experiences in their lives and wish to heal successfully and quickly.  Laura takes pride in being a positive support and collaborator for all individuals that she has the pleasure of working with.  

  • William Gates, LCSW
    Missouri Licensed Social Worker

William Gates has practiced as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Psychotherapist for about 20 years. Most of his original training was conducted in correctional and forensic settings. For several years, he provided evaluation and therapy to prison inmates, whose impulses, compulsions, addictions, and traumas contributed to their offending. In 2007, he went to work for the U.S. Army, treating Soldiers experiencing combat-related traumas and other challenges. He left civilian service in 2021 as a Division Chief at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, the DoD’s only maximum security confinement facility.

William’s work has exposed him to many people who had lost a sense of meaning in their lives, and allowed him the privilege of helping them to reclaim it. He sees all clients with unconditional positive regard, and focuses on strengths, not weaknesses. His approach to therapy, trauma-informed and grounded in the cognitive behavioral and existential models, is to assist clients in developing the tools to better manage their psychological symptoms, while assisting them in finding greater purpose in what has become an often overwhelming world.

  • Denise L. Gulledge, PhD
    Missouri Licensed Psychologist

Dr. Denise Gulledge is a Missouri Licensed Psychologist who specializes in individual psychotherapy with adults. She has experience treating a wide range of disorders and is particularly experienced in treating the effects of physical or emotional trauma. She has over twenty-five years experience and brings a background of special training in women’s concerns, their growth and relationships. Denise employs a variety of therapy styles, takes an active role in therapy, and focuses on developing strengths as well as treating problems.

  • Marilyn A. Hutchinson, PhD (retired)
    Missouri Licensed Psychologist

Dr. Marilyn Hutchinson is a Missouri Licensed Psychologist who specializes in women’s unique issues, growth and development. She has experience with a wide range of concerns of individuals and couples with a specialization in trauma recovery and EMDR. She has over forty years experience as a university professor, a psychologist at a university mental health center, and in private practice. She does forensic evaluations throughout the United States in civil and criminal matters.

  • Johanna Kelley, LMSW
    Missouri Licensed Master Social Worker

Johanna Kelley is a Licensed Master Social Worker who received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Kansas. She has training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and uses art therapy and play therapy techniques. Johanna has experience providing individual therapy to children who have endured trauma, loss, and who have been diagnosed with ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Depression, and other mood disorders. Johanna specializes in working with children and teens and creating individualized treatment plans with measurable goals. Knowledge, compassion, and humility are critical in Johanna’s strengths-based therapeutic approach. Johanna believes that clients are capable of developing the tools they need to succeed, and sees herself as a guide in the client-led therapeutic journey.    

  • Katie Joneslight, LCSW, LSCSW, LCAC
    Missouri and Kansas Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Addictions Counselor

Katie Light is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Addictions Counselor. She received her Masters in Clinical Social Work from the University of Kansas. She has specialized training in trauma recovery utilizing EMDR protocols. She utilizes a non-judgmental and collaborative approach, incorporating evidence-based techniques such as DBT, ACT, SFBT, CBT and mindfulness practices.  Katie works with adults and older adolescents, and her focus is in the following areas: life transitions, anxiety, mood disorders, addictions, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, grief and loss, intimate partner violence, co-dependency, and complex mental health/dual disorders. She has an extensive skill set having worked in a variety of settings including a psychiatric hospital, community mental health center, outpatient addiction rehab facility, domestic violence shelter, and group homes for individuals with disabilities. In working with Katie, client’s therapy experience will be unique and individually tailored.  She believes that each person has infinite potential to create the life they truly desire, and the ability to live a life free from internal barriers that hold them back.

  • Vincenza Rose Marash, LCSW, PhD
    Missouri Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Vincenza Marash earned her Masters in Clinical Social Work from Syracuse University, and her PhD in Educational Psychology and Master’s in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University.

Vincenza’s therapeutic style is relational, conversational, holistic, and empowerment-oriented, with grounding in contemporary psycho-dynamic understandings. She also incorporates an eclectic melding of feminist-narrative approaches and mindfulness-based models. Vincenza infuses insights from the neuro-biology of trauma to underscore how stress becomes somatically stored, while uncovering holistic strategies to foster its gentle release. Her specialty areas address anxiety, trauma, transition, loss, and identity development.

Vincenza wholly believes that within each individual resides a resilient and resourceful survivor, thriver, and expert on her or his own life. Through the co-creation of a safe, supportive therapeutic partnership, clients will explore and address personal and relational paradigms and patterns – ways of “seeing” and “being” – to promote amplified resiliency, enhanced empowerment, renewed passion and purpose, and constructive life change.

  • Lauren Richerson, PhD
    Owner, Missouri Licensed Psychologist

Dr. Lauren Richerson is an experienced clinical psychologist.  She has spent 15 years developing her knowledge and skills for addressing problems that occur in families such as behavior problems, anger management difficulties, and problems with healthy communication. She is also well equipped to address internalizing disorders such as depression, anxiety, suicidality, and PTSD in children, teens, and adults. Lauren uses evidenced-based techniques that are informed by scientific research in the context of a warm and caring therapeutic relationship. She is an eclectic therapist and has been trained in several specific techniques and models. Her goal is to strive to understand her clients’ personal struggles and adapt a treatment plan to specifically suit them.