Our Executive Board Leadership

2024 Board of Directors

Emotions Matter Inc. is run by a volunteer board of directors comprised of individuals with lived experience of borderline personality disorder, family members affected by BPD, those who have lost loved ones to BPD, and health care professionals who work within the BPD community.

Each board member is committed to Emotions Matter’s vision to create a world in which all individuals impacted by BPD have access to treatment and resources to achieve recovery.

Our Staff

Paula Tusiani-Eng, Founder and Director

Londyn Galya, Programs Administrator and Data Manager

  • Paula Tusiani-Eng, Co-Founder and Director of Strategic Growth at Emotions Matter Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to educate, support, and advocate for those impacted by borderline personality disorder (BPD).

    She received her Master's in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 2001 and her Master's in Social Work from Adelphi University in 2014. She received her Certificate in Non-Profit Management from Adelphi University in 2019.

    Paula is co-author with her mother, Bea Tusiani, of Remnants of a Life on Paper: A Mother and Daughter's Struggle with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). She lost her younger sister, Pamela Tusiani, who suffered from BPD at the age of 23 in 2001.

    Her passion for BPD education, resources and advocacy is in her sister's memory to help others survive and thrive with BPD with access to mental health care needed to achieve a meaningful recovery. Paula lives with her husband and four children in Garden City, New York.

  • Londyn Galya has been with Emotions Matter, Inc. for almost 2 years. With a background in Healthcare Administration and Psychology, she always knew she wanted to work in non-profit in the mental health sector. Here at Emotions Matter, Inc.,

    Londyn helps run our Peer Programs, handle our communications and newsletters, and organize our donor databases. She loves her job here at Emotions Matter, Inc. and looks forward to the future of the organization.

Kristin Fahlbusch, Peer Support Specialist

Alyssa Gross , Peer Worker 2/Peer Trainer

  • Kristin is honored, grateful and humbled to serve as Emotions Matter's first Peer Support Specialist. 
Volunteering as a Peer Support Group Facilitator for Emotions Matter during the COVID-19 pandemic was an immeasurably inspiring and fulfilling way for her to move forward toward peace during the most challenging time of her life thus far. 
Knowing she was encouraging others during their most vulnerable moments in some of the same ways her support system had rallied around her during her mental health crisis was a major catalyst for her healing journey.

    In her experience with BPD, she’s come to accept that she can be hurting and healing at the same time. 
Her hope as Emotions Matter's Peer Support Specialist is to work to expand our services to help even more people living with BPD and achieve new heights in the BPD peer space.  

  • For the past five years, Alyssa has dedicated herself to the healing process and is in functional recovery from borderline personality disorder (a diagnosis that she received in 2018).

    Part of Alyssa’s life worth living includes being a peer facilitator and trainer with Emotions Matter where she's able to use the skills of making meaning and contribution within the BPD community. In her free time,

    Alyssa enjoys playing guitar, being in nature, creating memes, writing, and playing with her adorable cat (Sky). She is grateful to be part of the Emotions Matter team! You can reach her via email at peers@emotionsmatterbpd.org.

Natalie Gutierrez, LMSW, Program Coordinator

  • Natalie Gutierrez, LMSW (She/ Her) is a Licensed Psychotherapist within a group private

    practice. Natalie also serves as a volunteer committee member for the Latino Social Work

    Coalition & Scholarship Fund, an organization that fundraises for scholarships for Latinx

    Master’s in Social Work students to increase the number of Latinx Social Workers in the field.

    Natalie received her Masters in Social Work from Fordham University Graduate School of

    Social Services and her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from SUNY College at Old Westbury.

    Natalie is passionate about working with and serving children and adolescents, BIPOC

    individuals, immigrant communities, LGBTQIA+ communities. Additionally, Natalie works

    with clients through processing trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, life transitions, women’s

    health issues, women’s reproductive health, and relationship issues.

    Natalie is passionate about breaking the stigma around mental health and demystifying mental

    health treatment so that individuals feel empowered to seek support. Natalie is passionate about

    supporting individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder. Natalie is excited to be joining the

    Emotions Matter team as a part-time Program Coordinator to support the mission of providing

    support, advocacy and education around Borderline Personality Disorder.