Our Team

A passionate team of

True Leaders

Our programs are guided by a passionate team of leaders from a variety of backgrounds. Our mission to support the whole person through transformative treatment is made possible by our skilled team, which includes trained, certified experts in therapy, art, movement, nutrition and more. Our programs are guided by the vision of Dr. Mehri Moore, who brings decades of experience working with women, teen girls, and gender non-conforming individuals.

Our team of more than 80 employees consists of registered dietitians, art therapists, primary therapists, milieu therapists, doctors and prescribers, and an administration team.

Our program pillars

Our programs use evidence-based approaches to treat serious and life-threatening psychiatric conditions while increasing resiliency through holistic care and a supportive community. Our unique approach as been proven successful over decades of treatment and thousands of patients.

3

Community & Family Support

Each person has a unique journey to recovery. At THIRA, we address unique needs for sustainable recovery paths by leveraging support systems in all areas of the individual’s life. Our group therapy, cohort-based treatments, and alumni groups strengthen the path to recovery.

1

Whole person
care

It is our goal to help each person reach their full potential through holistic recovery. With this in mind, we offer solutions that care for the whole person: nourishing meals, art therapy, medication management and more.

2

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

A great deal of research has been conducted on the effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and, in general, DBT appears as effective or more effective than other “talk-based” psychotherapies.

Meet our team

We value our team members, their intellect and decision-making characters. We are proud we managed to gather smart, talented and client-oriented staff, and we are happy to introduce them to our clients!

Mehri Moore, MD, Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist

Our Founder

Mehri Moore, MD brings over 35 years of work with women and girls to her leadership at THIRA Health. Her vision for THIRA was born out of a desire to address the core issues that women face, rather than simply working through symptomatic challenges. THIRA’s programs reflect this mission in their comprehensive, unique approaches that incorporate a variety of methods, including yoga, art and movement therapy, and much more.

In 1991, Dr. Moore founded The Moore Center (now Eating Recovery Center of Washington), the longest-established treatment center specializing in eating disorder treatment in the Pacific Northwest.

Dr. Moore is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist and also a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She has presented lectures, trainings, and in-service education seminars to diverse collegiate, medical and professional audiences nationwide.

Patricia Charles-Heathers, Ph.D., MPA

Executive Director

Patricia Charles-Heathers currently serves as the Executive Director for THIRA Health. Prior to her current role, Patricia served in the roles of Chief Operations Officer (COO) for Friends of Youth, Health Department Director for Multnomah County, and Director of Health and Human Services for El Dorado County. Patricia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Master’s Degrees in Substance Abuse Counseling and Public Administration, and a Doctoral Degree in Clinical and Organizational Psychology.

A native of the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, Patricia began her career in the banking industry before finding her passion and calling in the helping profession. She has over 30 years of extensive work in Behavioral, Health, Human and Social Services and over 17 years as an Adjunct Professor. She served on several community boards in California with her last role being Board Chair of Chest of Hope.

Patricia is passionate about creating work environments where employees are supported and empowered to be their best. She is a strategic, system minded, goal oriented, transformative leader. Her life work is to ensure top notch operational strategies and systems to support the work that benefits and makes life better for the recipient of services.

Dr. Al Tsai, MD

Medical Director

Dr. Tsai earned his Doctorate of Medicine from Boston University School of Medicine and completed his psychiatry residency at the National Capital Consortium at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. His military psychiatry experience includes serving as Chief of Psychiatry at Womack Army Medical Center and clinical deployments to Operation Enduring Freedom in Bagram, Afghanistan.

Dr. Tsai’s expertise in integrating psychopharmacology with psychotherapeutic modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has been instrumental in developing comprehensive care programs. His leadership in managing suicidality and self-harm behaviors has been widely recognized, and he has presented his research and insights at prestigious forums including the American Psychiatric Association and the Association for Academic Psychiatry.

Beyond his clinical practice, Dr. Tsai is a passionate advocate for mental health education and stigma reduction. He actively engages in community outreach and mentorship initiatives, reflecting his dedication to improving mental health care and patient advocacy.

Dr. Marisa Keller, PhD

Clinical Director

Dr. Keller has specialized in working with families across the lifespan, from pregnant and postpartum folks, to children and adolescents and their families, to adults of all ages, from a Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) perspective and using Prolonged Exposure protocol for DBT (DBT-PE). She obtained a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Palo Alto University with an emphasis in Neuroscience and Women’s Health and later in Children and Families. In particular, Dr. Keller has expertise in working with individuals experiencing pervasive emotion dysregulation, life threatening behaviors, eating disorders and other related difficulties and is a DBT-LBC Certified Clinician. Dr. Keller has an additional certification in Perinatal Mental Health.

Dr. Keller is passionate about teaching and training the next generation of clinicians and is on the faculty at University of Washington. She believes that cultural identities are an essential component of any individual’s complex experience of the world and is committed to finding a synthesis between delivering evidence-based treatments with fidelity and adapting treatments to the meet the needs and cultural context of each individual.

Sarah Skoterro, MA, LPCC, LMHC, LADAC

Director Of Business Development

Sarah Skoterro began service in the mental health profession in 1990 in the Pacific Northwest. She gained her Masters of Arts in Psychology from Antioch University in Seattle. She was trained in DBT via the Linehan Institute in 2008. Her work in Acute Inpatient Hospitals and Residential treatment settings over the past 30 years has edified her belief and actions around patient advocacy and cultural competency for all ages, and that all members of a community deserve top-tier care.

Additionally, her work as a clinician and Leadership member in detoxification centers and clinical programs addressing eating disorders, trauma, complex thought disorders and depression has led to increased focus on dismantling barriers to care. She has championed Suicide Prevention/Intervention nationally and locally – in conjunction with the ZERO Suicide Initiative and regularly trains students and practitioner in effective strategies to address and change this phenomenon.

She strives to bring collaboration, coordination and the highest quality care strategies across local and national systems. Sarah believes healing/change happens in the context of evidence-based interventions, with respect and validity leading the way.

Meet our team

Dr. Mehri Moore

Founder | MD, Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist

Mehri Moore, MD brings over 35 years of work with women and girls to her leadership at THIRA Health. Her vision for THIRA was born out of a desire to address the core issues that women face, rather than simply working through symptomatic challenges. While symptoms of anxiety and depression can be extremely damaging (eating disorders being a leading symptom), her mission is to find sustainable recoveries that allow each patient to overcome symptoms and root causes. THIRA’s programs reflect this mission in their comprehensive, unique approaches that incorporate a variety of methods, including yoga, art and movement therapy, and much more.

In 1991, Dr. Moore founded The Moore Center (now Eating Recovery Center of Washington), the longest-established treatment center specializing in eating disorder treatment in the Pacific Northwest. In her many years of clinical experience she has worked with patients dealing with a wide variety of mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, among others. She is THIRA Health’s Founder and has many years’ experience working with a broad spectrum of clients.

Dr. Moore is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist. She trained as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, an affiliate of the Childrens’ Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her residency in General Psychiatry at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. She received her medical training at the University of Tehran, Iran.

Dr. Moore is also a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She has presented lectures, trainings, and in-service education seminars to a wide variety of professional and parent groups. She is a licensed Physician in the State of Washington. For her work at The Moore Center, she was honored as a 2014 Semi-Finalist in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year awards. She is a member of the Academy For Eating Disorders and the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals.

Dr. Kathryn Korslund

Chief Clinical Officer | PhD, ABPP

After receiving her PhD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania at Hahnemann University, Dr. Korslund completed a postdoctoral fellowship under the direction of Dr. Marsha Linehan – the developer of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) – in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. In 2003, Dr. Korslund became a research scientist at UW’s Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics and worked alongside Dr. Linehan on several NIH-funded research studies centered on further developing and evaluating DBT.

She joined THIRA Health as clinical director in 2017. She was instrumental in developing THIRA’s DBT-based treatment program, which is the facility’s sole therapeutic modality. THIRA’s programming has been highly effective, with very low readmission rates and high patient satisfaction scores. She has strengthened the foundation of DBT treatment through countless training sessions and supervision of its work force, and has championed excellence in both patient care and clinical processes. These efforts, along with our clinical staff’s work, lead to THIRA receiving Joint Commission Gold Standard Accreditation.

In 2021 she became THIRA’s chief clinical officer and remains active in academic research as clinical faculty at the University of Washington. She and her team of researchers worked on a ground breaking paper on suicide and non-suicidal self-injury in teens which was recently used in an editorial published in the “Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.”