Licensed Therapists | Professionals

James Luzano, MD

Dr. Luzano has a background in working with a multitude of mental health illnesses and chemical addictions. In addition to Solstice Clinic he is a consultant to several reputable drug and alcohol treatment centers throughout Los Angeles. With his work and training at Cedars-Sinai, UCLA, and the Veterans Affairs medical centers, he has extensive and diverse experience in state-of-the-art mental health and addiction treatment.

Through his experience in therapy, Dr. Luzano’s approach promotes empathy, understanding cognitive-behavioral processes, psychodynamics, and motivation for change. He has applied these in PTSD and other anxiety, depressive and mood disorders.

Dr. Luzano is a graduate of Columbia University and completed medical school at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He is board-certified in both General and Addiction Psychiatry. He completed Psychiatry Residency at the UCLA-San Fernando Valley Program and completed an Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

For more information, visit: www.drluzano.com

Akashdeep S. Gill, MD

Dr. Gill is a practicing psychiatrist in the Los Angeles area specializing in both addiction and general psychiatry. Dr. Gill has trained and practiced in multiple clinical settings across the Los Angeles area including UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Olive View County Hospital and the Veteran Affairs medical centers.

In line with the Solstice Clinic’s philosophies, Dr. Gill emphasizes comprehensive care with a focus on the integration of evidence based pharmacology and psychotherapy specific to patient needs. He tailors care out of the fundamental understanding that mental health treatment is sensitive and unique for patients and their loved ones.

Following graduation from Kent State University, he received his medical degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University. He completed his Psychiatry Residency at the UCLA- San Fernando Valley Program and graduated from the UCLA- Cedars Sinai Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. Currently, Dr. Gill works as a consultant at multiple rehabilitation centers around the Los Angeles area specializing in dual diagnosis and addiction treatment.

For more information, visit: www.gillpsychmd.com

NICHOLAS ATHANASIOU, MD, MBA

Dr. Athanasiou has experience working with a broad range of mental health and substance use disorders. He is an Associate Clinical Professor at the UCLA – Olive View Psychiatry Residency Program and works primarily in an academic outpatient setting with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health training medical students and residents in the field of psychiatry. Prior to this position he worked for several years at the Veterans Health Administration in Los Angeles caring for Veterans and educating trainees in adult and addiction psychiatry.

Dr. Athanasiou is a Distinguished Fellow and Board Member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), Chair of the Publications Council at ASAM, and Editor-in-Chief of the ASAM Weekly. He is board certified in both Adult Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry and a member of the Addiction Psychiatry Committee at the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN).

After graduating from U.C. San Diego, Dr. Athanasiou completed a joint MD/MBA degree program at the U.C. Irvine School of Medicine. He then completed his residency training at the UCLA – San Fernando Valley Psychiatry Program and subsequently an Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at Cedars – Sinai Medical Center. He has also trained as a clinical fellow at the UCLA Mood Disorders Clinic.

Aruna Kodali, MD

Dr. Kodali is a board-certified Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist. She works to give individualized treatment to her patients while also taking into account the family system. She aims to provide all her patients with a clear and thorough diagnostic assessment. She will work with her patients on safe and effective medication management, along with psychotherapy.  Her caring and compassionate therapy approach takes into account her training with an integrative cognitive and psychodynamic model that helps her patients of all ages.  In addition, Dr. Kodali is a yoga practitioner and aims to implement this and other mindfulness based practices into a holistic treatment plan.

Dr. Kodali received her Bachelors of Science from the University of Akron and her medical degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University. She completed psychiatry residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center/Sheppard Pratt Hospital and her Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell Universities.  She has also previously practiced psychiatry in New Zealand and in Vermont.

JENNA ROMANO NIEVA, LMFT, LPCC

Jenna is dually licensed with the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences as a Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT #120837) and Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC# 10722). She provides clients with the valuable space to sort through their experiences and make lasting changes in the context of a warm, authentic relationship. With the philosophy that curiosity and awareness foster healing and choice, Jenna incorporates mindfulness-based, psychodynamic, and somatic approaches to free clients from old automatic responses and empower them to act with intention! In addition to learning tools for managing symptoms, clients experience new ways of relating to themselves and to the important people in their lives.

Jenna received her Masters in Clinical Psychology in 2014 from Pepperdine University.  She specializes in working with complex trauma and dissociation, couples, and entertainment industry professionals  Her advanced post-graduate training includes Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (Level 2), RLT Therapy for couples (Level 2/Terry Real), and Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST/Janina Fisher).

For more information, visit: www.jennaromanonieva.com

Caroline Yu Martinez, R.N., PMHNP-BC, CARN

Caroline is a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and addiction nurse, providing care for a wide range of psychiatric treatment including, but not limited to, mood and anxiety disorders, ADHD, and substance use disorders. She has experience in drug and alcohol detoxification treatment, providing services at PAX House, Redgate Memorial, Long Beach Memorial Care Center, and The Solstice Clinic. She was honored by the International Nursing Society on Addictions as the 2012 recipient of the Cathy Buffington Memorial Scholarship.

She is a graduate of UC San Diego, and completed her bachelor’s in nursing at the University of Southern Nevada, and her master’s in nursing at California State University, Long Beach.

Her approach involves providing a thorough evaluation while understanding the patient’s point of view and working collaboratively to help manage psychiatric symptoms in a safe, therapeutic space.

Julie Markowitz, ASW, LMSW, MBA

Julie believes in all people’s innate capacity to heal. All symptoms that we experience whether it be chronic pain, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, etc can be explained by trauma. Trauma does not have to be big events. Trauma can be if we are not attuned to emotionally as children or if our parents have their own unprocessed trauma—this sort of trauma often leads to deep seeded beliefs that we are unloveable and bad. Our healing comes from teaching our parts that we are loveable and accepted just as we are.

She specializes in treating chronic pain and dissociation. Julie primarily works in a somatic and relational way which means to deal with what is happening in the moment in the nervous system. Her work is informed by the idea that we all have different parts of ourselves that are trying to express themselves in the best way that they know how.

Julie’s training includes: Somatic Experiencing, Janina Fisher’s Structural Dissociation Model, Internal Family Systems, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, and Non-Violent Communication. She also works from the perspective of Dr. John Sarno’s “TMS” framework in which physical symptoms are understood as repressed emotions including anger, sadness, shame, and fear.

For more information, visit: https://juliemarkowitztherapy.com/

LIANNE WONG

Lianne has been providing administrative support to The Solstice Clinic since March 2021. In addition to ensuring the day-to-day operations of the clinic run smoothly, she conducts initial intakes and coordinates patient care. She has several years of administrative experience and has always enjoyed supporting environments that foster personal development and growth. Lianne is currently pursuing her Master of Public Health degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, with an emphasis on community health work, health promotion, and health education.