Wellspring New York Directors

Christa McGough is the Director for Wellspring New York. Christa has been with Wellspring for over five years and has served in several leadership positions for both our Camp and Academy programs. Christa provides a wealth of program and athletic experience and she is currently the leader of Wellspring’s Running Club. Christa was raised in upstate New York. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education with an emphasis in Community Health from State University of New York at Cortland. In college, Christa competed in soccer, gymnastics, and track and field.

Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, Ph.D., is President and Clinical Director of Wellspring. He was Director of the Eating Disorders Program at Northwestern University Medical School, where he is Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Kirschenbaum is a Fellow and Diplomate in Clinical Health Psychology in the American Psychological Association and former president of its Division of Exercise and Sport Psychology. Dr. Kirschenbaum has provided invited addresses at many professional conferences worldwide, received numerous grants for research, and published 10 books and 150 journal articles on weight loss, sport psychology, and related topics. His books include: the first book published for professionals on the treatment of pediatric obesity - Treatment of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity (1987); Weight Loss Through Persistence (1994); The Sierras Weight Loss Solution for Teens and Kids (2007); and, The Wellspring Weight Loss Plan (2011). Dr. Kirschenbaum’s research on sport psychology won the top prize for research on the mental game of golf from the World Scientific Congress on Golf (St. Andrews, Scotland) and Golf Magazine (2001). In 2000, the American Council on Exercise and its Board of Directors unanimously endorsed his book, The 9 Truths About Weight Loss (2000), as "the best book ever written for the public on how to lose weight and keep it off."