Dr. Joan S. Zofnass grew up in Boston and Marblehead. She graduated from Syracuse University, and received her MSW from Boston College, where she was awarded a prestigious Kellogg fellowship. She began her career at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City and opened her own private practice in psychotherapy, while also pursuing a doctorate at Adelphi University. Her brother, Paul J. Zofnass, had opened a financial consulting firm focused on promoting sustainability in the engineering industry and Joan joined the firm as research director. She continued that role, along with maintaining her private practice, until leaving New York in 2020.

Before moving to New Hampshire, Joan also taught individual, couple, and group psychotherapy on the graduate level at both Columbia University and Hunter College Post-Graduate Program. She was a volunteer mental health supervisor for the Red Cross, attending at many disaster sites as well as providing education to volunteers.

Here in New Hampshire, she continues her practice as a psychotherapist, although much of her work is now pro-bono, and she also teaches psychotherapy in the Psychiatry Residency Program at Portsmouth Regional Hospital.

She is an avid gardener and kayaker and has spent many years as a member of The Explorers Club. She has served on the Board of the New York Wild Bird Fund and is currently on the Board of Nicalove, a charity devoted to improving the care of animals in Nicaragua. and Reach for Within, serving abused and neglected children in Grenada by improving caregivers’ skills. Joan has been a volunteer at Gather since 2022.