The Team
Who We Are
Emily K. Ryzuk, Ed.S., LPC, ACS
Founder & CEO / Clinical Director
Our team is led by Ms. Emily Ryzuk, a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in trauma, sexuality, infertility issues and sexual assault. She is trained in EMDR and is experienced in supporting individuals and couples experiencing issues related to trauma. She strives to create a safe and compassionate space for clients to explore their innermost thoughts and feelings, and to help them find the path to healing.
Ms. Ryzuk's journey began in sociopolitical activism during her undergraduate studies at Drew University while studying global issues at the United Nations. This culminated in her thesis paper on the UN response to Female Genital Mutilation. Following graduation, she joined the corporate world for over a decade with a career in digital marketing, utilizing her skills in international law and negotiations. Constant in her pursuit of helping people, Ms. Ryzuk returned to graduate school and completed her M.A. and Ed.S. in professional counseling and her post-master's certificate in School Counseling from Seton Hall University.
Upon leaving the corporate world, Ms. Ryzuk joined the team at the Morris County Sexual Assault Center and, ultimately was promoted through the ranks to lead the program for Morris County. This allows her to have a keen insight into all issues surrounding sexual trauma. She believes that the way trauma is handled in our society is sorely lacking and has dedicated her life to the creation of a new way to help people to heal from trauma.
Federica Bisone, J.D. M.A., LAC
Founder & COO
Along with Ms. Ryzuk, Ms. Federica Bisone created the center with the goal of empowering, healing, and bringing to light all the various forms of trauma and their deep-seated life ramifications from both a personal and societal perspective. A Licensed Associate Counselor and Lawyer, Ms. Bisone specializes in adolescent and adult trauma, illness, grief, family and couple’s therapy, domestic/sexual assault, and mediation. She believes that finding one’s voice, one’s meaning through compassion and safety are cornerstones on which healing is based. Born and reared in Italy, Ms. Bisone is fluent in Italian and Spanish. She earned her JD from New York Law School in 2000 and practiced law for 12 years. Ms. Bisone fulfilled her life-long dream of becoming a counselor and attained her Master’s Degree in Clinical and Counseling Psychology from William Paterson University. She brings multi-cultural awareness to her therapeutic interventions and strives to create an environment of tolerance, open-mindedness and inner peace for all of her patients.
Irene Sawka, MA, LCADC, BCPC
Drug & Alcohol Counselor
Next in our team is Ms. Irene Sawka. Ms. Sawka is a specialist in co-occurring co-occurring mental health and substance misuse.
Ms. Sawka believes that anyone can overcome the challenges in their lives - sometimes you just need a patient person to open up to. Her main goal in therapy is to help you better understand and resolve challenges in life. She provides a professional and safe place where one can be genuinely heard and understood. Through this, one can find answers and sort out the tangled emotional and cognitive web of internal confusion.
She has worked with many referral programs, including probation, PCPP, Intoxicated Driver Resource Center (IDRC), and Morris Cares (Sexual Assualt Trauma). I also provide DWI assessments. She also provides DWI Assessments.