We are on a mission to help people in crisis build better lives
Our virtual crisis clinic is dedicated to reshaping the landscape of behavioral health care, offering affordable access to personalized, evidence-based intensive care that empowers individuals to build better lives in the face of mental health challenges.
Our leadership team
Lauren Morrell
Lauren has spent her career focused on improving patient access to high quality care by bringing together technology and improved care models. While experiencing a personal mental health crisis, Lauren saw firsthand how limited options for crisis support were and the negative impact existing solutions had on both individual patient experience and the healthcare ecosystem more broadly. Inspired by that experience, she and the team are dedicated to improving access and experience of care for anyone who finds themselves in need of crisis support. Prior to founding Willow Health, Lauren worked at Cityblock Health as the National General Manager of Virtual Care.
Christina Gerdes, MD
Dr. Gerdes is a double board-certified adult psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist interested in systems of care, recovery-based practices, healthcare administration and innovation. She completed her medical doctorate at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science with a focus in community health. She is a graduate of the Adult Psychiatry Residency and Public Psychiatry Fellowship at Columbia University. Dr. Gerdes is an innovative physician leader experienced in driving the development and implementation of modern behavioral health and substance use treatment programs.
Clinical advisory board
Dr. Flavio Casoy is a psychiatrist in New York City who specializes in public mental health systems and treating individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. He works to ensure that individuals with the most serious psychiatric disorders have access to community-based services that can help them stay out of hospitals or jails and lead fulfilling lives. He has also spent over a decade pushing to make sure that everyone in the United States has access to quality and affordable health care. Currently, he is an Assistant Clinical Professor at Columbia University and the Medical Director of Adult Community Care and Managed Care at the Office of Mental Health of New York.
Dr. Clement Nsiah is a trained population health scientist with years of experience in service planning and implementation to address health disparities and improve outcomes. As a director in practice improvement for the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, he provides training and technical assistance support for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) that offer comprehensive services for people with mental health and substance use needs. Dr. Nsiah received his doctoral degree in health policy from D’Youville University with training in population health and equity, a Master of Science in molecular biology from the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and a Bachelor of Science in biology from SUNY Geneseo.
Elizabeth (Liz) Breier is The Director of The Bureau of Regional Advocacy for Adults and Youth for the Office of Advocacy and Peer Support Services. For over two decades, Liz has empowered individuals to create and sustain their personal vision of healing and wellness, while also shaping the broader service system to be person centered, anti-oppressive, collaborative, wellness focused and trauma responsive. She uses her personal lived experience as part of her support for others around individual self-determination and healing from trauma. Liz holds a Master of Arts in Health Advocacy from Sarah Lawrence College, is a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner from The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, is a CPS-P, and is a Certified Health Coach with The Institute of Functional Medicine.