Mathew Apeseche
LICSW, Heartwood Founder/Director
Mat has over 15 years experience working with children, teens, and parents. After graduating from Bowdoin College in Maine with a major in sociology and a minor in teaching Mat moved out to California and Oregon to work with homeless youth living on the street. From there he became an after-school program director, and eventually transitioned to working with students in their homes and communities as a therapeutic mentor and in-home family therapist. After earning his Masters of Social Work from Boston College Mat worked as the clinical director of a therapeutic special education school in Chelsea and a clinical consultant with the Somerville school district in MA. Now he is the director of Heartwood Expeditions and operates his private therapy practice out of Williamsburg, MA.
Mat loves travel and adventure. He has driven cross-country 9 times by car, van, and motorcycle and has traveled to 16 foreign countries. His favorite past times include many physical/recreational activities: skiing, rock climbing, running, hiking, camping, basketball, and martial arts. Mat also loves both playing music and attending live music events. He lives in Goshen, MA with his wife, 2 children, and two dogs Lucy and George.
Gwendolyn Roit
LMHC
Gwendolyn arrived to her work as a therapist following decades of working with her hands, mostly by way of organic farming. She received her BA in Journalism in 1997 which eventually led her to the Congo with a press pass to travel with the UN. It was here she recognized her desire to listen to people’s stories - to pay witness - was far greater than that to document them. She earned her MA from Antioch in clinical mental health counseling in 2019 and has since been grateful to work in community mental health, a holistic group practice, and since 2023, in private practice.
She draws on trainings and experience in Ecotherapy, Mindfulness, Motivational Interviewing, Hakomi, EMDR, and Parts Work to inform the structure of sessions. The natural world is her favorite co-facilitator and she offers walking and sitting sessions outside in Franklin county and beyond, incorporating movement and awareness of environment into collaborative sessions. She is deeply invested in providing support for those who have experienced spiritual abuse and has done extensive research on recovery from coercive groups. She is also trained in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy and has served for several years as a volunteer sitter for Sapience Therapy’s KAP retreats.
Gwendolyn is happiest in woods or by rivers, and feels extraordinarily fortunate to be doing the work she loves in these spaces. She believes in the sense of connection that is present for all of us in the more than human world and in the powerful metaphors found therein to help embody healing and belonging.
Serena Torrey
LICSW, Certified IFS Therapist & Consultant
Serena received a BA from Hampshire College. She then worked for over 20 years as a professional carpenter and general contractor, building her own homestead farm in rural Plainfield MA. In 2012, she attended Boston University for a Master's Degree in Social Work. After earning an LICSW, she fell in love with IFS in 2015, and moved directly into a multi-year IFS training process which led to becoming a Certified IFS Therapist.
Serena served as Director of Behavioral Health at the Hilltown Community Health Center for several years before starting an IFS-based private practice in Greenfield in 2018. Serena works with individuals, couples, and groups. She regularly serves on staff as a Program Assistant at IFS trainings, and provides supervision as an approved IFS Consultant for new therapists studying IFS. She is currently experimenting with ways to bring IFS therapy out of the office and into the woods and garden. For Serena, practicing nature-based ecotherapy feels like a beautiful way to find balance in this time of technology and disconnection.
Serena is a queer psychotherapist, parent of teenagers, farmer and carpenter. She loves hanging out with farm animals, hiking in the woods, building tiny-house campers, and inviting therapy clients to get their hands dirty!
Phoebe Woerner
LICSW
Phoebe is a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) who specializes in working with children, teens and families. She has supported young people’s behavioral health as a school adjustment counselor and as a community based individual and family therapist. Prior to earning her Master’s in Social Work from UC Berkeley in 2018, she worked as a youth programs coordinator in the San Francisco Bay Area and has also worked as a family mediator for the past decade, helping couples and families navigate conflict and significant life changes.
She grew up in a small town in the northeast, spent 15 years in California, and moved back east to beautiful Western Mass in 2018. She loves being back in a place with real seasons and delights in exploring the local woods and rivers with her partner, their toddler, and dog.