Pasadena Villa Outpatient – Chapel Hill

Executive Director

Jessica Wood, MS, LMFT, CEDS

Jessica Wood is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and Certified Eating Disorder Specialist having earned her Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from East Carolina University. Jessica has been working in mental health since 2009. Jessica has experience providing individual, group, and family therapy for patients across multiple levels of care. In addition to her experience in direct patient care, Jessica has extensive experience providing supervision and training to clinicians.

Jessica strongly believes in an evidence informed approach to best practice treatment and pulls from several approaches in her work with patients including Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Jessica also believes in a collaborative and strengths-based approach to treatment and is passionate about empowering patients to create a sustainable path to recovery.

Clinical Practice Director & Psychotherapist

Caroline Rutledge, MA, LCMHC, LCASA

Caroline is a therapist dedicated to helping others move beyond challenges and the pain of past experiences to live a productive, authentic, and hope-filled life. Through individual and group counseling, she strives to create a safe and affirming environment through a trauma-informed lens for clients to explore their authentic selves. With warmth, collaboration, and compassion, she seeks to provide each client with their own individual treatment, utilizing evidence-based interventions. Her areas of interest are assisting clients with eating disorders, depression/anxiety, substance abuse, addiction, relationship issues, trauma, grief/loss, problem-solving skills, social skills training, among many others.

Caroline is a graduate of North Carolina Central University’s Counselor Education Program. She has dual Master’s degrees in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling. Caroline is a National Certified Counselor (NCC), a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC), and a North Carolina Licensed Professional School Counselor. She is also a Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist Associate (LCAS-A). Caroline earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Caroline’s training in eating disorders began at UNC’s Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders (CEED), where she worked on the inpatient eating disorders unit at UNC Hospital. Caroline has worked in all levels of care.

Prior to Pasadena Villa, she was the PHP/IOP Manager and psychotherapist at Veritas Collaborative, a national healthcare system for the treatment of eating disorders. Her theoretical orientations include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), solution-focused therapy, motivational interviewing, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and Maudsley family therapy. She is also trained in EMDR therapy.

When not in sessions, Caroline can be found cheering for the UNC Tar Heels, snuggling with one or more of her 5 pets (2 dogs and 3 cats), deciding which place she’d like to travel to next, on the tennis courts, or curling up with a good book, most likely mystery/thriller or something by Brené Brown.

Psychotherapist

Bri Safer, MS, LCMHC, CRC

Bri Safer is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) and a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC), having earned her Master of Science degree at the University of North Carolina. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Miami University (Ohio) where she was a Presidential Scholar (awarded to 17 out of ~4,500 students each year). Bri was trained at the UNC Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders and has experience in a hospital and an outpatient clinic. Bri has experience providing individuals, couples, group, and family therapy in clinical settings.

Prior to her work at Pasadena Villa, Bri worked at Veritas Collaborative, a national healthcare system for the treatment of eating disorders. At Veritas, Bri was the Community of Support Manager and a psychotherapist. As the Community of Support Manager, she created groups and resources for both clients and their community of support. Although Bri specializes in eating disorders, she also has experience treating a wide variety of other psychiatric diagnoses. Bri has worked with clients of all ages, ranging from age nine to age seventy-five. She has worked at inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient levels of care.

Bri has a strong belief in evidence-based treatment to serve her clients best. Bri utilizes many treatment modalities supported by research including, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy and Person-Centered Therapy. Bri uses warmth, humor, and empathy to build therapeutic relationships. Bri will work in partnership with her clients to develop a unique treatment plan to meet clients where they are in their journey, with the main goal of helping others discover or re-discover their strength and purpose as they work towards living fulfilling lives they deem worth living

Music Therapist

Joyu Lee, NAMI, NMT, MM, MT-BC

Joyu is a music psychotherapist and professional cellist in the Triangle area of North Carolina. She’s the owner of Music and Your Mind, LLC, and a founding member of Vida Strings.

Joyu is a passionate and experienced therapist with 20+ years of combined international experiences in creative/expressive arts therapy, cello performance, music education, and arts administration. She is trained in the Bonny Method Guided Imagery and Music and is a Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery. Joyu currently is the only independent certified Music Breathing practitioner in North Carolina and is completing her Narrative Therapy Certification through NTI in May 2022.

Board-Certified Psychiatrist Attending

Abdul Khalid, MD

Dr. Khalid is a board-certified adult psychiatrist with over a decade of experience. Dr. Khalid completed his adult psychiatric residency at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens Village and post-doctoral residency fellow at New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York. Dr. Khalid has been working for the state of North Carolina since 2009. Over the years, Dr. Khalid has served in a variety of clinical settings including inpatient and outpatient services. Since 2019, Dr. Khalid has been the Chief Medical Officer at an inpatient facility. Dr. Khalid’s areas of interest include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, and substance use disorders. Dr. Khalid believes that honesty, integrity, and a healthy perspective are essential components of leading a happy life.

Board-Certified Psychiatrist Attending

Muhammad Saeed, MD

Over the years, Dr. Saeed has served in a variety of clinical settings including inpatient, outpatient, and consultation/liaison services. He has been serving at a local psychiatric hospital as a Clinical Director of Geriatric Services since 2012. His primary focus is helping individuals who are struggling with a persistent and serious mental illness to the functional recovery. Additionally, Dr. Saeed has been providing transcranial magnetic stimulation, which addressed treatment-resistant depression, at several treatment locations in the triangle area. His areas of interest include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, and cognitive disorders. Dr. Saeed is board certified in adult and geriatric psychiatry by American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He completed adult psychiatry training at the University of Texas at Houston Health Science Center in 2007 where he also served as a Chief Resident. He further completed his geriatric psychiatry fellowship at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial program. In 2008, Dr. Saeed relocated to North Carolina and served in the psychiatry department of ECU at Brody School of Medicine as the assistant professor until 2012. Dr. Saeed also shares his mental health knowledge with others by conducting seminars through Eastern and Wake County AHEC.