CLAUDIA GOLD, MD

Executive DIRECTOR

Claudia M. Gold, MD, a pediatrician and writer, has practiced general and behavioral pediatrics for over 25 years, and now specializes in early childhood mental health. She offers parent-child consultations for ages 0-3 at Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires. She is the author of several books on developmental science written for both professional and general audiences. A 4th book, The Power of Discord with co-author developmental psychologist Ed Tronick, was released in June 2020. She is on the faculty of the Early Relational Health Fellowship at UMass Chan Medical School , the Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute, and The Brazelton Institute at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago and U of C Pritzker School of Medicine.

Linda Gillespie, Co-director

Linda Gillespie, MS has been working in the field of early care and education for the past 30 years. She recently retired from Zero to Three where she spent the last 15 years in a variety of positions, from training/writing specialist to director of program operations for the Early Head Start National Resource Center. Her final 3 years were spent as a Senior Training/technical assistance specialist with the HealthySteps Program where she worked to prepare pediatricians to incorporate a HealthySteps specialist who worked with parents to enhance the well child visits. Linda trained Nationally,  as well as internationally.  She authored numerous articles and also coordinated the writing of Rocking and Rolling: Supporting Infants, Toddlers and their Families- a column that appeared in the National Association of Education for Young Children journal.  Currently Linda sits on the Policy Council for the Head Start & Early Learning Program in Northampton, MA.  She has a master’s degree from Bank Street College of Education in Parent and Infant Development. 

Gwendolyn Creary, co-faculty

Gwendolyn Creary, LLP, LMSW is a licensed mental health counselor who has specialized in early intervention and early childhood mental health for the past 31 years. She has 24-years’ experience as a behavior specialist in Bermuda. In January 2018 she founded Bermuda’s only infant and early childhood mental health consultant and therapist private practice. The practice is called ParentGuide. Currently she is an infant-parent mental health post-graduate fellow at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.  She serves on two non-profit boards, the Inter-agency Committee for Families and Children (Bermuda) and the Hamilton Rotary Club of Bermuda. 

She has two young adult children who have embarked on their own careers and are currently working in Bermuda.

Melanie Salort, co-faculty

Melanie Salort has worked as an occupational therapist for 19 years, specializing in the area of Sensory Processing and working with individuals from infants to adults.  In 2003, she completed the training to administer and interpret the Sensory Integration Praxis Test, a specialized training program to further clinical skills in Sensory Processing.  This led to Ms. Salort working at OTA The Koomar Center, a nationally recognized outpatient clinic that specializes in the area of sensory processing.  The clients that she works with present with challenges in how they process sensory information impacting functional areas such as self-regulation, emotional regulation, motor coordination, handwriting, and eating.  Ms. Salort has an interest in using her expertise in sensory processing to support mental health concerns and trauma.  

In more recent years, it has become her passion to better understand and support parents with children who have sensory processing challenges.  In 2017, Ms. Salort completed UMASS Boston’s Infant Parent Mental Health fellowship.  This fellowship has expanded her knowledge base to better support the parent child relationship.  Her therapeutic approach sees the child as part of the family unit and supporting the whole family allows for a greater potential of change.

Beyond her clinical experience, Ms. Salort has presented at state and national conferences to a variety of professionals, college students, and parent groups on areas such as sensory processing, creating sensory environments in the home and school, self-regulation, and trauma-informed care.  

She lives with her husband, two sons, and (very) energetic dog.  She enjoys reading, going to CrossFit, and spending times outdoors.