BLACK MOUNTAIN ACADEMY - Key Persons
Adam joins us originally from just a few hours west of Black Mountain in Tennessee. Adam graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor's Degree in Therapeutic Recreation. Adam has spent over 10 years working directly with young men and women who have been struggling with engaging in the community.
When asked about why Adam made the decision to join the Black Mountain team he says "Having a conversation with Brandon prior to the school opening and hearing about the program that he would be opening, alongside our shared passion for helping others, led to through the doors. It has always been rewarding to share the excitement in learning with our students and I continue to learn every day from the young men at Black Mountain Academy."
On the rare occasion that Adam isn't on campus working with our guys on some executive functioning challenge they are facing, he can be found enjoying spending time with his 3 kids. Adam is also an avid runner, and created a 65 + Mile Race that is run locally every year by himself and a number of ultra-marathon runners! Adam has also thru-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in his younger days!
Becca brings to Black Mountain Academy 17 years of experience working in therapeutic schools and programs. Throughout her career, Becca has dedicated herself to working with families and adolescents to promote healthy living, both emotionally and physically.
As a native of Western North Carolina, Becca enjoys all of the outdoor activities that our beautiful area has to offer, including hiking, paddle boarding, gardening, and spending time with her daughter.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Executive Director
Brandon enjoys working directly with our Leadership Team to implement and fulfill the vision of Black Mountain Academy. The Leadership Team strives to be collaborative and to learn from one another as we meet the needs and achieve the goals of our students and families. As a person who loves to perpetually learn, Brandon works with the team to examine meaningful ways for Black Mountain Academy to continue to grow and evolve to best serve our students, families, and local community.
Brandon has over 20 years of experience as an educator and therapist working with adolescents and their families in therapeutic schools and programs. During his tenure in a previous program, he developed and ran a very successful model focused on integrated care for boys with neurodevelopmental and learning differences.
Prior to becoming a therapist, Brandon spent time as a math and science teacher in public schools and as a guide on white water and climbing trips for adolescents. He loves being a dad, trail running, mountain biking, camping, fly fishing, woodworking, cooking, and being outdoors.
Camille brings ten years of experience in Operations at a local wilderness therapy program. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs, a major in Environmental Management, a minor in Human Resources, and a certificate in Business Foundations. Before administration in therapeutic programs, Camille had multiple years of experience in other businesses as a Business Manager, Materials Manager, Quality Inspection, and Production Router. She was a Top Water Technician in the Adirondacks to help with habitat restoration. Camille is an avid outdoors person. She loves baking, knitting, and spending time with her dog.
Job Titles:
- Academic Support Coordinator
Cat hails from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and holds a Bachelor's in Strategic Communications with minors in Creative and Professional Writing. Prior to her current role as Academic Support Coordinator, Cat discovered the great outdoors by thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. This adventure drove a commitment to living in and enjoying our natural surroundings. Cat then worked for two years as a wilderness therapy guide. She is now pursuing her Master's in Social Work. When asked what she likes about her role at Black Mountain Academy, Cat states, "I like the opportunity to help students during the school day as I identify with not enjoying school. I like helping facilitate their growth and mindset." When Cat is not at work, you can find her backpacking, mountain biking, rock climbing, and playing card games!
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Mathematics Teacher
Colin Walsh has a long history in residential and alternative education, dating back to 2004 when he started as an art teacher at an alternative high school. He has a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University, is trained in experiential education, and brings the ethos of that model to his work. He began residential care in 2005 working in a wilderness program in the Adirondack Mountains. Eventually, his focus shifted from front-line direct care and staff training to offering therapeutic family services and group work. He earned his master's degree in Clinical Mental Health while serving as the Program Director of a prominent wilderness therapy program.
He believes that everyone has a natural desire to grow into a more empowered and whole version of themselves but that for many reasons we can become stuck or grow towards things that feel empowering but are often unhealthy for us and our families. "Usually for a combination of reasons, biological, cultural, spiritual, our "stuck-ness" stays even though we know we want something different. Often, we then experience hopelessness and other forms of unhealthy shame and guilt; or we ignore our feelings altogether and try to create our own reality or other ways of defending against doing what is good for us. These cycles often stop us from facing life's developmental problems. This can create a confused sense of self and keep us from realizing what we are capable of if we give ourselves a chance to face our problems. However, we need to do this with the help of others. As Albert Einstein said, ‘You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it.'"
A husband and a father of three, Colin is often at his kids' events of one kind or the other. He enjoys his time in the woods with his dog, mountain biking, watching movies, and playing old-school video games with his sons.
Cortney discovered her love of language and communication while living in Thailand where she worked as a sociolinguistic researcher for 5 years. Following her stint abroad, Cortney returned to the U.S. and earned a Master's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Western Carolina University. Cortney is licensed by the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.
Here at Black Mountain Academy, Cortney works with students to improve their communication skills in several key areas, including improving speech fluency and social pragmatics. When asked why students at Black Mountain Academy benefit from speech therapy, Courtney states, "Communication is all about understanding what others mean and expressing your own ideas. If you have misunderstandings, don't always get why others do/say things, or have trouble getting your message across, then speech therapy can help! Just like learning how to play a new video game, you may need instruction and practice to get better and master your skills. Depending on students' needs, we set measurable and attainable goals, and work week by week to achieve those goals. We celebrate successes and find new ways to apply our learning to real life."
When not working with students at Black Mountain Academy, Cortney enjoys hiking in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina with her dog Jiggy and spending time with family.
Dave originally hails from the Buckeye State (Ohio), but he has made his home with his wife and two daughters here in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. Dave has over a decade of experience as an educator and is dedicated to providing transformative educational experiences to students with complex learning differences. Dave earned holds a BS in Natural Resources from The Ohio State University, A M.A.T in Education from Western Oregon University, and a post-graduate certification in Special Education from Concordia University. Prior to taking on the role of Academic Director at Black Mountain Academy, Dave worked as the the director of education for a local wilderness program. He has many years of experience also working as a special education case manager and classroom teacher. When Dave is not in the classroom working hands-on with our students, He enjoys spending time with his family, tending to his flock of chickens, or hiking and biking in the North Carolina backcountry.
A lifelong passion for working with at-risk children, adolescents and families began in 1979 when Dayna graduated with a BA from Valparaiso University. She returned to school to earn her MSW from Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1984. Dayna was fortunate to be in Chicago at the heart of the family systems movement, enabling her to work and be trained by many of the masters in the field.
Since entering the field over 35 years ago, Dayna has always maintained a clinical and programmatic relationship to at-risk youth and their families in an array of jobs and settings. Her positions have included individual and group residential care, individual, group and family therapist, clinical and administrative supervisor, trainer, and developer of clinical departments of therapists and interns.
Following her dreams to live in the mountains, she moved to Asheville, NC where she continued working with at-risk populations as a Clinical Director and Administrator for residential group homes and foster care. During this time she designed the program and opened a Runaway Shelter for Runaway and Homeless Youth.
After 15 years working for agencies, Dayna decided she could best use her skills as a clinician by going into full-time private practice, specializing in the at-risk population in out-of-home placements. This quickly led to contracts providing clinical supervision to various residential, foster care, and community mental health agencies in Western NC, providing individual and family therapy in an inpatient psychiatric hospital, psychiatric assessments in a local hospital ER,family therapy in a partial psychiatric hospital program, and more recently clinical supervision for wilderness therapy programs. Working with TEACCH in the late 1990's, she added the specialty of Autism Spectrum Disorders to her practice.
Expanding on her vast experience of training professionals, in 1997 Dayna began teaching for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work as a Clinical Instructor in the Mountain Area Distance Education MSW Program. Currently, she is teaching at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville in the Counseling Program and East Tennessee State University in the MSW Program in Asheville. She develops and provides training nationwide on a variety of clinical topics such as clinical supervision, ethics, autism spectrum disorders, therapy with adolescents, play therapy, and expressive arts. Recently she authored a book with her husband, The Parental Tool Box.
Dayna's passion in her work draws from her love of life. This expresses itself in her organic gardening, hiking, bookmaking, and mixed media quilting.
Doug originally comes from South Florida, where he grew up playing in the Everglades. This helped instill his love of and curiosity about nature. He received his bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Central Florida. He then worked for many summer camps and educational camps around the country where he fell in love with teaching students the wonders of nature and learned to explore student curiosity. This led to teaching science at an alternative high school where he also started working on his M.A.T in Teaching with Western Carolina University, expecting to graduate in the summer of 2023. Through these diverse teaching situations, Doug has been learning how to best serve his students so that they not only learn and do science but also enjoy it.
Dr. Narron believes that mental health is the key to true health. Though he began his medical training in general surgery, he ultimately decided upon psychiatry. Dr. Narron is trained in adult and child psychiatry. He finds that treating children and adults allows for a deeper developmental perspective about how symptoms present over a lifetime.
In his 20 year career in Asheville, Dr. Narron has been involved in systems of care in his community. He has served as medical director of a start-up adolescent hospital program, as a board member of a start-up private school, and as a psychiatric consultant to non-profit organizations. He is currently serving as the psychiatric consultant to several private boarding schools, therapeutic boarding schools, therapeutic residential communities and a wilderness therapy program for adolescents. He uses a systems approach whether providing individual care or organizational consultation.
Although born in Torrance CA, Freddy was raised in Black Mountain, NC, and enjoys pointing out his childhood haunts to our students. Freddy is an NC Peer Support Specialist, and previous to working with our students he helped addicts and alcoholics with early recovery at a rehabilitation facility.
As a father of an autistic youth, Freddy was drawn to the work from his personal experience and the desire to work with teenagers. Freddy shares that he loves "helping our students to understand the different possibilities and life choices they can make and how those choices can impact their future." Freddy is a passionate leader and advocate for our students, and loves helping students set and achieve their personal goals, as well as helping them be "a leader in their own lives."
When Freddy is not at work he loves spending time with his fiance and their three sons and one daughter. Freddy loves playing almost every sport, can juggle, and has become involved in a local bowling league (and has brought more bowling to work as well). Freddy has even bowled a perfect game!
Jessica, who goes by J, recently moved to North Carolina where she began working at BMA in December of 2022. Though she's lived in a collection of places, she claims Bellville, Ohio as her hometown where she spent most of her childhood years.
J. has a Bachelor of Arts in English, and a Masters in Conflict Management and Humanitarian Action from the University of Siena in Italy. In this program, she focused her attention on gender disparities and refugee movements around the world. Her practice and experience in helping people while they navigate through crises have helped her greatly in working with our students. Black Mountain Academy appealed to J. because she has always enjoyed working with teens. Previously, she worked as a residential advisor in a dormitory for international teens attending school in the US. She has also worked in foster care with the same age group. J is impassioned by seeing and helping young people work at building relationships, learn new skills, and communicate thoughts and feelings for healthy growth. She also loves that there is a high likelihood for goofiness to occur when hanging out with our students.
When not working, J. is usually playing volleyball, working on a painting, or scheming up an adventure to go on with her siblings. Fun fact: she has lived in five different countries in the past six years. Ask her which one is her favorite!
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Clinical Director
Jim brings over 15 years of experience providing clinical care to adolescents and their families in multiple settings including private practice, community-based interventions, therapeutic wilderness programs, and as a primary therapist at two boarding schools. Jim's professional passion is to help clients develop a sense of resiliency, self-efficacy, and resourcefulness at school, home, and in the community. Jim brings experience, warmth, and commitment to our students as he joins the clinical team at Black Mountain Academy. He has extensive experience working with families and individual with autism. As a parent of a child with autism, Jim has a special interest in assisting individuals and families in navigating the challenges autism presents as well as capitalizing on the strengths our students inherently possess. In his free time, Jim enjoys time with his family, fly fishing, camping, and travel.
We are thrilled to welcome Jon Allen to the role of Program Manager. Jon brings to Black Mountain Academy multiple years of programming experience with children and adolescents. He has experience safely facilitating ropes course initiatives and other valuable team-building activities. Jon also enjoys sharing his passion for illustration and creativity with students through the creation of role-playing games and comic books.
Jon has trained and worked with many different teams across his career. He has his Master's of Fine Art in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Jon shared, "I am drawn to Black Mountain Academy because it's an opportunity to be a part of a unique and important community, help further ignite creative thinking in that community, and fuel my own creativity."
We are really excited to have Jon bring his talent, passion, and creativity to Black Mountain Academy.
Juan has returned to Black Mountain Academy to teach Spanish. He previously taught Spanish to our students in 2019-2020. We are delighted to have him back. He holds a Bachelor's in Economics from Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico. Juan has taught Spanish to children and adults at local organizations and at the university level. He has worked and volunteered at multiple service organizations, both locally and in Mexico. Juan is also a talented guitarist and holds an Instrumentalist in Guitar from the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Operations Director
Kristina is very excited to be a part of the Black Mountain Academy team as Assistant Operations Director. Prior to joining the team at Black Mountain Academy, she worked for 13 years supporting the operations of therapeutic programs. She has done everything from finance, to human resources, to assisting with accreditations.
In her spare time, Kristina can be found creating concoctions with essential oils, crafting, and enjoying the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains with her magnificent wife, dog & cat.
Lenna, our self proclaimed and student nicknamed grandmother, joins our team with 35 years of early childhood education. She graduated from Western Carolina University with a Masters degree in early childhood education and has taught at a number of public schools across North Carolina. Lenna also has spent ten years of her retirement working the front desk at our local YMCA.
When asked why she was drawn to Black Mountain Academy, Lenna said "being an educator for so long has taught me that I enjoy working with students who have unique educational experiences. I also had the opportunity to befriend one of BMA's first students at the YMCA and the rest is history".
In her spare time, Lenna enjoys working in her flower garden, taking care of their year-old granddaughter and weaving baskets. Lenna spends her evening with her husband, on the phone with her twin daughters, and watching after her two dogs and cats while feeding the neighborhood raccoon family nightly!
Job Titles:
- Academic Support Teacher
- Advisor for the Baking Club
Maryanne Miller hails from Brooklyn, New York (and yes…she is a Yankee's fan!). With her she brings over 22 years of experience as an educator to her role at Black Mountain Academy. Maryanne attended the New School for Social Research in New York City and San Diego State University, where she earned a B.A. in philosophy and Religious Studies. Maryanne later earned her teaching degree from Chapman University. With a strong belief that all students are capable of learning and succeeding when provided with the right support and a team of individuals who care, Maryanne has immersed herself in the world of dyslexia. While living in the United Kingdom, Maryanne earned a certificate in dyslexia education from the Dyslexia Institute in London. When asked what she enjoys most about teaching at BMA, she states, "I enjoy the small classroom sizes! It allows me to get to know the student as a learner and as a whole person."
Maryanne is a phenomenal cook and addition to teaching English Language Arts and Social Studies, Maryanne is also the advisor for the Baking Club at Black Mountain Academy. Outside of the classroom (and the kitchen), Maryanne enjoys reading, photography, and traveling with her husband and their rescue dog, Danea.
Job Titles:
- Logistics and Facilities Manager / Chloe
Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, but is now happy to call Asheville home. He received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Wittenberg University, located in Springfield, Ohio. Ryan later earned his Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Ryan received specialized training in both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Additionally, Ryan holds a certificate in Organizational Leadership in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice and the Wharton School of Business.
Prior to becoming a therapist, Ryan worked as a field instructor at a local wilderness therapy program for five years under the close guidance of Black Mountain Academy founder, Brandon Moffitt. Brandon states that, "Ryan brings a calm demeanor with him to his work, and it helps people feel comfortable around him- this is particularly helpful with our students at Black Mountain Academy who struggle to emotionally regulate. One of Ryan's biggest skillsets is taking complicated tasks and situations and explaining them in ways that are simplified and less stressful. I have seen Ryan's ability to problem solve and think creatively. More specifically for our students who struggle with social pragmatics, Ryan has a very effective way of explaining social skills and giving constructive feedback in honest and non-threatening ways."
When not working with students, Ryan enjoys spending time hiking, camping, and backpacking. He has hiked to the top of Mt. Kosciuszko, which is the highest point in Australia. With a great appreciation for nature, Ryan has also visited over 20 National Parks and hopes to continue adding to that number in the years to come.
Sunita Pillay was born in the great city of Chicago and raised in nearby Northwest Indiana. She attended Loyola University of Chicago, earning a B.A. in History with a minor in African-American Studies. Soon afterward, she attended Teachers College, Columbia University, earning a Master of Arts in the Teaching of English. Sunita has over two decades of experience teaching students of all ages from middle school through college. She also has several years of experience as an educational publishing editor specializing in standardized tests and textbooks.
For fun, Sunita enjoys revising her near-future dystopian novel, chronically attempting to understand quantum physics, cooking vegetarian meals, and hanging with her partner, Leif, his son, Skyler, and their two North Carolina hound dogs, Banzai and Duke Nukem.
Todd holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Rosemont College, where he received the Charles James O'Donnell Award for Creative Writing. He also has a Master of Arts in English from Villanova University. Todd brings previous teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Before Black Mountain Academy, he worked as a wilderness field instructor at a local therapeutic program for adolescents and young adults. He won the 2023 Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council's Ember Award, which honors his outstanding commitment to his clients. Todd shares that he comes so close out of the woods to us that you probably will catch a whiff of woodsmoke from his clothes.
Working as a Senior Field Instructor at SUWS of the Carolinas, he learned to leverage his outdoor experience as a coach for young men toward becoming the best version of themselves. As a former field staff in Wilderness Education, he is familiar with many of the challenges our students face. Before his wilderness work, he completed his Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 2021, setting a standard and goal to hold students towards.
As an English Instructor, he brings a love for poetry and all forms of creative writing. Creativity and passion characterize his writing and teaching process. He has been lucky to find publication opportunities for his writing in diverse places like the Mad Poets Review, Off the Coast, and Philadelphia Stories. In his work with students, he seeks to embody selflessness and service.
In his free time, he finds himself writing in a tent, in some woods somewhere; he has said, ‘When I come back into town, this is the place I want to be.'