Our Team

Rebecca Schneider, PhD, is an assistant professor and licensed psychologist at the Emory University School of Medicine and Director of the Child OCD Program at Emory (COPE). Dr. Schneider received her BA in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory, she completed her doctoral psychology internship at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford/Children’s Health Council and her postdoctoral fellowship at the Child and Adolescent OCD Institute (OCDI Jr.) at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Schneider received her BA in psychology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory, she completed her doctoral psychology internship at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford/Children’s Health Council and her postdoctoral fellowship at the Child and Adolescent OCD Institute (OCDI Jr.) at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Schneider specializes in providing evidence-based treatment for OCD, anxiety disorders and misophonia in youth, including exposure and response prevention (ERP) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). She is a board member of OCD Georgia, and co-founder of both the OCD Special Interest Group of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science and the ACT Special Interest Group of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF). Her research focuses on mindfulness- and acceptance-based treatments for OCD and anxiety disorders, and how to improve the effectiveness and acceptability of exposure therapy.

Cara Waiswilos, MS, is a Clinical Assessment Specialist with the Emory Child and Adolescent Mood Program. She completed her Bachelor of Business Administration from Harding University and worked in healthcare administration for ten years before obtaining a Master of Science in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling from Mercer University in Atlanta, GA. Cara is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. She also volunteers as a Court Appointment Special Advocate with the foster care system in Fulton County.

Michael “Macon” Mills earned his BS in Psychology and MS in Professional Counseling and Clinical Mental Health from the University of West Georgia. He completed his clinical internship at Willowbrooke at Tanner, where he facilitated recovery groups and co-led expressive arts, coping skills and process groups with children and adolescents.

At COPE, Macon supports teens and families in our virtual intensive program. He draws on cognitive behavioral therapy and experiential approaches to help adolescents build practical skills, face fears and move toward their values. His clinical interests include OCD and related anxiety disorders, mood concerns, identity and self-esteem and reducing self-harm. Macon is known for a warm, nonjudgmental style and for tailoring care to each teen’s goals and needs.

Nilo is a fifth-year clinical psychology doctoral candidate at Emory University and a second-year intern at CAMP. Her research uses advanced computational methods and artificial intelligence to explore how language captures emotional experience, emotion regulation, and the ways people make meaning of events. Clinically, she focuses on children and families affected by obsessive–compulsive disorder, mood and anxiety disorders, and those experiencing difficulties with emotion regulation. Outside of the lab, she enjoys hiking, reading and dabbling in creative writing.

Sarah is a Clinical and Community Psychology doctoral student at Georgia State University. She received her BA in Psychology at Wake Forest University. Prior to her graduate studies, she was a program coordinator for the Telemental Health Outreach Program at the Medical University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on risk and protective factors in the development of internalizing disorders, including family related factors, such as parental/caregiver emotion socialization practices. Sarah's clinical interest focus on utilizing evidence-based cognitive and behavioral interventions to address mood and anxiety related concerns.

Nashalys is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Clinical-Community Psychology program at Georgia State University. She earned her BA in Psychology from Muhlenberg College and MA in Psychology from Georgia State University. Nashalys has worked in various research and practice settings, including at Stanford University, disseminating evidence-based programs to over 250 schools and colleges nationwide. For a decade, she served as a volunteer facilitator of an adolescent support group at Caminar Latino, an Atlanta-area domestic violence organization serving Latinx families. These experiences have informed her passion for providing evidence-based clinical services.

Amanda Perozo is a third-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at the University of Georgia. She received her BA In Psychological Sciences at Rice University in Houston, TX. Amanda is conducting research on the mental health of Latino families at the FUERTE Lab at the University of Georgia. She is interested in delivering evidence-based treatment across a range of modalities for anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents.