Andrew S. Rubin, Ph.D., Executive Director
Dr. Rubin is a licensed clinical psychologist, and the founder and Executive Director of New Directions, Inc., a company that specializes in delivering state of the art services for young adults with developmental disabilities. Services focus on the clinical, academic, vocational, and life management arenas. Services also include individual, group, and family therapy, comprehensive psychological evaluations, and consultation services. Dr. Rubin’s background integrates expertise in cognitive behavioral therapy, developmental theory, and neuropsychology, into an evidenced-based treatment approach that is both empathic and based on the current scientific literature.
Dr. Rubin was formerly the lead psychologist at the Unicorn Child Development Clinic at Nova Southeastern University’s Mailman Segal Institute for Early Childhood Studies. In this position, he supervised a team of professionals, post-doctoral fellows, doctoral level practicum students, and student interns in the diagnosis and treatment of children with developmental disorders. He was a leader of many of NSU’s parenting programs, teaching a variety of parenting classes on behavior management strategies. Dr. Rubin currently teaches graduate level courses in child development and infant mental health. In addition, Dr. Rubin has taught graduate level courses in child and adult psychopathology, assessment, and therapeutic intervention. Dr. Rubin lectures widely to community organizations, speaking on issues related to the social and emotional development of individuals with developmental disabilities, behavioral disorders, depression, anxiety, and addiction disorders.
Prior to working at NSU, Dr. Rubin was on staff at Tulane University’s Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, and Louisiana State University’s Health Science Center, where he provided treatment and performed comprehensive assessments and neuropsychological evaluations.
Dr. Rubin attended college at the University of Connecticut, New York University, and earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Psychology. He has previously worked at many hospitals and training institutions including University of Chicago Hospital, Department of Child Psychiatry; Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center; Tulane University Medical School, Department of Psychiatry and Neurology; Tulane-DePaul Behavioral Health Center; Louisiana State University Health Science Center; The Medical Center of Louisiana (Charity Hospital); Illinois Masonic Medical Center; and the Pain and Rehabilitation Clinic of Chicago (PRCC).
Melissa Hoffman, M.S., Director
Melissa attended the University of Southern California where she earned her Master’s in Education with Credentials in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She was co-author of her Master’s Thesis, “Crossing the Threshold with Ease: A Comprehensive Transition, Orientation, and Mentoring Program Designed to Encourage Success in High School D/HH Students Entering Broward Community College” which was later intergraded at six campuses. Melissa also co-authored Broward Community College’s first college-wide Disability Services Handbook.
Melissa worked as the Director for Academic Services for the College Living Experience (CLE) in Davie, Florida. There she provided educational support services for students with various needs in order for them to have an equal educational opportunity to be successful.
Prior to working at CLE, Melissa worked at Broward Community College (BCC) as the College-wide Deaf Services Specialist/Interpreter in Davie, Florida for ten years. Some of her responsibilities included advising, arranging accommodations, interpreting in classroom settings as well as assisting students in registration, financial aid, labs, graduation ceremonies, etc. Many deaf students rely on others to help them compete in an equal arena with their classmates; she provided such assistance to the students who otherwise would have found success much more difficult to attain. Her ultimate goal was to assure that BCC’s deaf and hard of hearing students would become more independent, self-advocating and successful not only in school but in society as well.
Currently, Melissa is also an adjunct professor for the Communications Department at Broward Community College where she teaches American Sign Language.
Some of Melissa’s affiliations include PRIDE (Parents Really Involved In Deaf Education), FRID (Florida Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf), PEPNet (Postsecondary Education Programs Network) and ADARA (American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association).
Melissa enjoys helping people to learn, discover and communicate and creating new strategies to empower students to be more independent to deal with future challenges. She also enjoys being able to give the students an equal opportunity to be successful. If you were to ask her passion and what keeps her motivated, she would tell you it is the students; as it is a pleasure to see the expressions on their faces when they know they have successfully accomplished their goals.
Wendy Wallace, Academic Instructor
Wendy is a Native Floridian, who has been an educator for over 30 years. She graduated from Barry University, in Miami in 1981, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Wendy then moved to Broward County and earned her Montessori Certification and taught at a Montessori school while her two children, Peter and Melissa were young. In 200, Wendy completed her Master’s Degree in Special Education at Florida Atlantic University. She has been running her own tutoring company since then and began working as an adjunct professor at Broward Community College in 2007. Wendy joined the New Directions’ family in January 2008 as an academic instructor.
Danielle Hoffman, Life Management Skills and Cooking Instructor
Danielle is originally from Ohio and moved to Florida with her family twenty-five years ago. While her first two children were younger Danielle worked as a Teacher’s Assistant for three years. It was shortly thereafter she had decided to Home Educate her four children starting from kindergarten through high school. While homeschooling her children, she also owned her own cleaning and organization business for ten years.
Danielle enjoys exercising, cooking, reading and spending time with her family and friends. She joined the New Directions’ family as a Life Management Skills and Cooking Instructor. She enjoys working with our students as it is a rewarding experience.
Danielle enjoys being a mother and hopes to one day become a grandmother. She brings a unique perspective to the New Directions’ family as she is one of the only staff members who has children and has a lot of the same concerns and ideas that prospective parents have.
Aron Tendler, MD CBSM
Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology Adult & Geriatric Psychiatry, Neuropsychiatry, Addiction, Insight-Oriented Psychotherapy for Personality Disorders, PTSD and couples. Behavioral Sleep Medicine for all ages.
Tim Langerholc, Academic Tutor
Tim was born near Chicago and lived briefly in Arizona before he moved to Florida at the age of six. After high school, he attended the University of Central Florida where he majored in English: Creative Writing and graduated cum laude.
After graduating, he worked at a credit union. As he gained more training responsibilities he realized that teaching was closer to his calling, and in 2005 he made the decision to uproot himself and move to Barcelona to take a course in teaching English, where his adventures abroad began.
He received his certification and then began working at International House (an international chain of language schools) in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where he remained for two years until he opted for a change of scenery - to Hanoi, Vietnam, for a full year. In Hanoi he acquired more experience and was promoted to Senior Teacher and gained the additional responsibility of training teachers as well as teaching students. He finally returned home in 2008.
Tim enjoys jogging, reading horror stories, watching movies, eating strange food, learning strange phrases in other languages, and, of course, travelling.
Bobby Jividen, Life Management Skills Instructor
Bobby was born in California and grew up in Ohio before moving to South Florida at age 13. He attended Palm Beach Community College where he worked as a Supplemental Instructor of Macroeconomics. In 2009, Bobby graduated summa cum laude from Florida Atlantic University with a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Political Science and Interdisciplinary Studies. He plans on continuing his education with a graduate degree in International Relations or International Political Economy.
Bobby enjoys cooking, reading and making music. He spends much of his free time finding new recipes; discovering new writers, artists and musicians; and researching chord progressions in popular music.
Michael Kellen, Clinical Psychology Post-Doc
We are pleased to welcome Michael Kellen as a Clinical Psychology Post-Doc to New Directions for Young Adults.
Michael received his clinical training at the Neuropsychological Assessment Center of Nova Southeastern University; the Munroe Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center; and Children’s Hospital in Omaha Nebraska. Michael has extensive experience administering psychological and neuropsychological evaluations to a wide population, including those with neurodevelopmental disabilities, genetic disorders, and those who have sustained traumatic brain injuries. He also has extensive experience in behavioral pediatrics and sleep disorders. His training and work experience have been multidisciplinary in their setting.
Michael has numerous publications in professional and academic journals in the field, and has coauthored several book chapters. He has presented his research findings throughout the United States and Canada and has been invited by the American Psychological Association and the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication to present his research findings. We are thrilled to have him on our team!
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