OHM_TRUST - Key Persons
Alec brings with him a vast amount of experience and expertise in his role at T.R.U.S.T. Born and raised in New York City, Alec discovered by the age of 13 that he would rather receive his education in the real world rather than in a classroom and began working to support his family. However, no stranger to drug and alcohol addiction himself, Alec soon found himself lost in the grips of his own addiction and entered treatment in 2011 and relocated to South Florida.
Upon completing treatment, Alec took a job as a loan officer for several financial institutions and quickly recognized what he was doing was not fulfilling. He decided his true passion was to help others recover as he did. Alec went on to work as Case Manager, Director of Patient Services & Facility Operations, and Admissions Counselor at Wellness Resource Center, a prominent Dual-Diagnosis treatment center in South Florida. Alec is trained in the ARISE Intervention Model and fortunate enough to train under the co-founder of the ARISE-Network Dr. Judith Landau.
Antwon Bailey is a recovering political operative that has been in the addictions treatment and recovery field since 2007. He was the Residential Program Director and Corporate Compliance Officer of a community-based addiction treatment center in Tennessee. Antwon led his facility through a successful 3-year re-accreditation from CARF while simultaneously reducing staff and adding new services during the Great Recession. Antwon moved to Chicago to for further graduate study and was the Intake/Admissions Desk for a treatment center specializing in boutique services including rapid opiate detox. He left after almost 2 years to do a cultural ambassadorship with the State Department in Turkey. There he spent time with the leadership of several political parties and also toured and surveyed NGOs from Ankara and Istanbul. Upon his return, he went back to organizing and led a team of organizers on a multi-state campaign for better working conditions in the Midwest. After being recruited for the 2012 Obama campaign and serving as the Illinois State Lead for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Antwon was asked to consult for a start-up outpatient addiction center in the Chicagoland area. Antwon was the Founding Director of Patient & Family Services, which included marketing, patient registration, managed care credentialing, utilization review, admissions, call center and accounts receivables. Antwon moved back to Tennessee and spent the past year working part-time a local addiction treatment center while building his private practice. Antwon holds a Master of Public Administration degree with concentrations in International Public Management, Urban & Community Analysis and Health Administration and Planning. Antwon completed comprehensive DBT training under the tutelage of Dr. Michael Maslar of the Family Institute at Northwestern University. He is currently licensed to practice addiction counseling in Tennessee and Illinois, and is studying advanced clinical practice at Columbia University in the City of New York.
Hobbies: I coach high school wrestling, attend plenty of concerts, and really keep up with politics and international affairs.
Christine Allen is a seasoned professional with over 35 years of experience working in various service provider roles with the City of New York. She worked for two decades with the most vulnerable client populations, to support their efforts to achieve sustained self-sufficiency and self-determination. She worked as an NYC Classroom Teacher, an Eligibility Specialist with the Social Services system, as a Case Manager for rehoused homeless families, as HIV/AIDS service coordinator and community advocate, as Program Director with parents of At-Risk students, as Recruitment and Training Director, and as a Performance Management Program Administrator with the NYC criminal justice system. Ms. Allen holds Master's Degrees in Education and in Social Work and is a Licensed Master Social Worker. She has vast experience working with individuals and families affected by substance use, mental health challenges and other issues related to addiction. She consistently employs the strength-based approach to motivate, engage, and help others to pursue desired outcomes. With over 24 years of hands-on experience, she has facilitated the process of recovery for persons in or those seeking recovery from alcohol, drugs, and other addictions, using varied non-clinical approaches to engage individuals at all stages of recovery- from initiation to stabilization to sustained recovery maintenance. She has successfully educated families on the recovery process and provided varied methods, approaches, and evidence-based practices to equip them to more effectively deal with family members trapped in the cycle of active addiction or who are struggling to maintain ongoing recovery. Ms. Allen is committed to work that employs her skill, experience, expertise, and desire to help individuals to utilize the recovery process to attain abstinence from all drugs, re-engage with society (family, friends, job, home), create a new life based on hope, health, and wellness, and gain a sense of purpose that leads to an improved way of life.
Christine J. Allen has been trained in Structured Family Recovery® *STRUCTURED FAMILY RECOVERY® is a specific, well-defined program for addiction recovery management leveraging family systems conducted by practitioners who have completed the Love First, Inc. STRUCTURED FAMILY RECOVERY® Counselor training program and are certified by Love First, Inc. to conduct the program.
Job Titles:
- Director of Clinical Services and Business Development
- Director, Program Development
- Martial Artist
Dr. Andrew Cicchetti, LCSW-R, with more than 30 years experience, is a seasoned psychotherapist and coach specializing in alcohol and substance use treatment. Andrew is a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker (No. 051923) with advanced training in Gestalt Psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. He provides individual, couples and group therapy, in addition to clinical supervision and executive coaching. As the Director of Program Development, Andrew plays a key role in the leadership of T.R.U.S.T. and Pure Recovery Sober Residence.
Andrew earned his Ph.D. at the Graduate Center, City University of New York with a dissertation focused on group treatment of people with addictive disorders in collaboration with NAADAC. He obtained his Masters in Social Work at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, where he was the recipient of the Tenzer Academic Fellowship and the Dean's Award. Andrew received his post-graduate training at the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training in New York City. In addition to CBT and MI, he has additional training in DBT techniques, Mindfulness, Sexual Addiction, Complicated Grief, and Couples Therapy. As an Adjunct Professor, Andrew has taught at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University and at the Hunter College School of Social Work. He has published in peer reviewed professional journals and lectured nationally and internationally on group therapy, Gestalt Therapy, addiction treatment, and HIV/AIDS mental health. He proudly contributed the entry on group work in substance abuse treatment for the Encyclopedia of Social Work with Groups, (A. Gitterman & R. Salmon). In October, 2020 he begins his path towards certification in Structured Family Recovery in training provided by Debra Jay and Jeff Jay. Passionate about group work and addiction treatment, he has also served as the Vice-President of the International Association of Social Work with Groups and as an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery.
In addition to being an administrator, clinical supervisor, therapist and coach, Andrew is a dedicated Martial Artist with an advanced belt in Krav Maga and a beginner's belt in Taekwondo and is involved in street animal rescue.
Job Titles:
- Psychiatrist
- Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University
Dr. Griffin is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University and an Attending Psychiatrist at NY Presbyterian Hospital. He received his BA in Biochemistry from Columbia University, his MD from Harvard Medical School, and PhD in Neurobiology from Harvard Medical School. During his Residency in Psychiatry at the Columbia-New York Presbyterian Medical Center,he was honored with the NIMH Outstanding Resident Award. Following residency training, Dr. Griffin completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Kandel. Dr. Griffin's research and clinical interests focus on the substance abuse disorders. His studies investigate the specific molecular changes in the reward circuitry of the brain during the development and maintenance of addiction, with goal of developing novel and more effective therapeutic interventions. Dr. Griffin's research has been funded by a Leon Levy Investigator Award and a K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award from the National Institute of Drug Addiction.
Miguel A. Contreras, PsyD, LCSW, CASAC, is a licensed psychotherapist as well as a certified addiction specialist in New York and New Jersey. He has over 25 years experience treating couples and individual clients with mood disorders, post-traumatic stress and addictive disorders such as alcohol, drugs, and sexual addictions. He has taught courses at the graduate and undergraduate level, as well as, presented workshops on clinical, addictions and multicultural topics. He also specializes in working with men on issues of masculinity. Dr. Contreras is bilingual (English/Spanish) and works with the complexities that multicultural issues present in a clinical setting.
Elsie Demers has over 25 years experience in addiction/recovery and has worked for years helping people with substance use disorder strive for and succeed in their recovery. Having personally hit rock bottom, she realized the importance of peer to peer services as being the connective tissue between treatment to long term recovery. This is why after a long career in corporate America she left to pursue this work full-time. She then started her journey by becoming a member of the oldest grassroots advocacy group in NY LIRA. Though LIRA she traveled to Washington DC and Albany to advocate for laws to change to support recovery services. She than became a Certified Peer Advocate and a National Trainer and a Breakfree interventionist.
Job Titles:
- Health Consultant
- WELLNESS COACH
Eric Bricker is an accomplished South Florida veteran clinician currently in private practice since 2007 and
Erik Coleman is a former NFL standout, active philanthropist and sought-after sports analyst who uses his on-field experience, extensive knowledge of sports and robust personality to bring new and exciting insight to fans young and old. Since his retirement in 2013, Coleman has become a TV analyst for SNY's "Jets Post Game Live!", "Jets Extra Point", "Jets Nation" and SNY's Jets Draft show. He also frequently appears as a sports commentator on numerous sports shows and network programs such as Hannity on Fox, Closing Bell with Liz Claman on Fox Business, ABC, PIX 11, CBS, ESPN Radio and WFAN, to name a few. In addition to his on-camera career, Coleman hit the airwaves as an analyst for the Stony Brook University football radio broadcast team in 2015.
Coleman is currently pursuing his passion for health and wellness as a Practice Manager at CORE Medical New York, an anti-aging and hormone treatment medical center. Off the field Erik has become a staunch advocate in the addiction arena; he is currently a partner in the Guardian Recovery Network. Through Erik's organization Cover and Strike Inc. Erik has begun to help the NFL through developing partnerships with facilities that provide rehabilitation services to existing and former NFL families. Through Cover and Strike Inc. Erik has participated in collaboration with the NYS Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse with a prevention and early intervention campaign throughout the State of New York. Erik has also in the State of New Jersey work with Reach New Jersey on a campaign around awareness with the opiate crisis in the State of New Jersey. Currently Erik serves as the ambassador for TRUST (Treatment Resources Utilizing Sustainable Techniques) providing long term comprehensive case management post treatment.
Coleman is an active philanthropist who supports a number of causes close to his heart which includes, sickle cell anemia, pediatric cancer and traumatic brain injury and is a mentor for My Brother's Keeper Mentorship Program. Moreover, Coleman is the proud recipient of Manhattan Youth Baseball Excellence in Sports & Philanthropy Award.
Evan is a speaker, author and an ADHD coach certified by the International Coaches Federation as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and Certified ADHD Coach Practitioner (CACP), by the Professional Association of ADHD Coaching (PAAC). A leader in his field, Evan holds a board position on the ADHD Coaching Organization (ACO) as the Membership Chair. Committing his energy to the advancement of ADHD Coaches as a profession and awareness of this transparent learning disability.
His approach is authentic, passionate and invokes one's foundation to change through deep awareness and ownership. From his diverse teaching experience, Evan has the ability to command the attention of a room all while developing a warm demeanor that guides his audience through any lesson or journey.
Evan was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder in grade school, and has since decided that awareness and empowerment are the foundation for growth. He himself has an amazing personal story of overcoming failures within a toxic environment. With his personal experience alone, he had the opportunity to develop a thorough understanding of the services necessary to support those affected with ADHD and their families. As a teacher, he has held his patience against the toughest classrooms and thrived with misunderstood teenagers. He advocates for students and consults plans for their parents.
Progressive Growth Coaching was launched in the Winter of 2014 by Evan Kirstein after a career in Education, Special Education, and as a Director of Special Education programming for an independent company in Southern California. Currently, Evan Coaches and Consults professionals in Austin, Texas, and has developed a practice aimed at leveraging a growth mindset while progressing the barriers of self-development.
Born and raised in Slovakia, Ivona Bhadha immigrated to U.S.A in 2001 and continued her studies and internships in clinical social work. Ivona is licensed as a clinical social worker in Florida. She has extensive experience in substance abuse counseling, grief therapy, family therapy, couples therapy. She has been helping distressed individuals, couples and families since 2003.Ivona is a skilled couples and family therapist with advanced training and experience in EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy), a highly researched, effective, and evidence-based treatment. She credits her success to understanding the core principles in building strong, secure, and healthy relationships and families.Ivona Bhadha also has experience in EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) - an approach proven by research to be effective in the treatment of trauma and post-traumatic stress.She has advanced training and experience in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy - a unique approach that combines the practice of mindfulness meditation with changing negative thoughts to help relieve anxiety, depression, and other emotional and behavioral problems.Ivona Bhadha, LCSW has private practice in West Palm Beach, Florida. In addition to individual and couple's therapy, she facilitates weekly women's therapy group "Women empower Women". Ivona is very passionate about helping people struggling with addictions and their loved ones. She leads a weekly group for individuals with trauma and addictions and teaching them how to heal both conditions simultaneously. Ivona takes pride in facilitating a three-day family program for loved ones of addicts and provides a break-through experiential therapy for individuals recovering from addictive behaviors and their families.Ivona believes that psychotherapy and break-through coaching provides tremendous opportunity to challenge our self-limiting comfort-zones, along with a great potential for positive change and personal growth. She leads her clients to get remarkable results through developing strong daily routines and taming self-sabotage. "We can't stop the waves in life, but we can learn to ride them, and that's the game changer… " she says.
Jeanine Primm Jones has become widely known as a creative culturally sensitive relationship health educator. Her customized relationship health seminars have been performed nationwide for schools, colleges, municipalities, national and international sports teams, parents and other community groups. She is well-known for her frank discussions and creative technique of integrating appropriate lyrics from current and popular music clips, mixed grooves, beats and sound effects into the scripts of her interactive seminars.
In 1989, Jeanine's health career began as a Disease Intervention Specialist in Brooklyn, NY, where she convinced STD patients to identify and to notify partners. She later coordinated the AIDS program for the Narcotics Rehabilitation Center at New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital. In the early 1990's, Jeanine directed the Counseling and HIV Testing Program and Hotline for the City of Cambridge, MA., establishing HIV testing in Cambridge Hospital, high school, and six neighborhood health centers.
She received her Master's degree in Clinical Social Work in 1996 at Simmons College, where she received the Dean's Leadership Award. She developed Project TEACH in Harlem, NY, the first African-American user-friendly HIV treatment education model for people infected with and affected by the virus. Jeanine also has served on the Treatment Advisory Board of the National Minority AIDS Council, written articles on various health topics, authored a domestic violence prevention handbook for males and created the newsletter ‘Treatment Talk' designed for HIV Positive African Americans.
From 1998 to 2008, Jeanine designed and presented innovative relationship health seminars and individual relationship health coaching for professional and prospective professional basketball players. For ten years, her seminars, always highest rated among player programs, were required for all National Basketball Association (NBA) players (three times a year for Rookies, once a year for veterans). Seminar topics ranged from managing sex and dating, sexual infection prevention and education, to managing relationships with partners, potential partners, children and estranged partners. Her domestic violence prevention program (handbook and seminar with music) was also presented to National Football League (NFL) players.
In NYC, from 2009 to 2011, Jeanine provided mental health assessments and group therapy in rehabilitation programs for opiate-addicted patients at ARTC (Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation).
For over 10 years Jeanine has been a partner in Health Disparities Services, LLC her family's social health education speaking firm, conducting abuse prevention (relationship bullying) seminars specifically for prep schools, colleges, camps, clinics, conferences and detention programs.
She's passionate about relationship health/well-being coaching with adults and adolescents. She enjoys watercolor painting and is an accomplished portrait artist. She also spends much of her free time lap swimming and practicing yoga, and biking and kayaking with her husband.
Job Titles:
- Licensed Clinical Social Worker
- Member of the National Association of Social Workers
- WELLNESS COACH
Jennifer Lorey is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) who has been working in her field for 20 years. Jennifer earned her undergraduate Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Hood College in Frederick Maryland in 1993 and her Masters of Social Work Degree from New York University in 1999. Having a passion for working with adolescents and their families, Jennifer began her Social Work career at The Phoenix House Foundation, Step One Program, an alternative high school / Intensive Outpatient Treatment program from inner city troubled youth. Jennifer held a position of both a primary therapist as well as the lead family therapist at Step One for 3 years. Jennifer also became a primary therapist in an additional after school outpatient and family program for new your city adolescents called the IMPACT program at Phoenix House until 2002. Continuing her passion for this work with adolescents and families, Jennifer joined The Caron Foundation working in their Student Assistance Program - a program geared towards education faculty, students and families on the dangers of addiction as well as a separate smoking cessation program. Jennifer spoke at both private and public schools through New York City and the surrounding counties while also facilitating the E.N.D. smoking cessation program for teens.
During this time, Jennifer began her private practice held on the upper east side of Manhattan working specifically with adolescents and their families around addiction and the associated issues. Jennifer's career in helping those struggling with the disease of addiction continued at The Caron Foundation at The New York Recovery Center. Jennifer worked directly with a program called Road to Recovery, an organization that provided adolescents with an opportunity to work with musicians in recovery (writing songs, playing instruments ect) while also addressing the struggles with early recovery. In 2006 Jennifer made her move to South Florida working at Caron Renaissance as both a primary and family therapist eventually moving on to The Florida House Experience as a primary therapist working with adults and families. She also co facilitated the monthly family program and where she most recently held the position as the Clinical Director. Jennifer is also a faculty member of The Rosewood Institute and has spoken at conferences about the connection between chemical dependency and eating disorders and how to appropriately address each.
Jennifer is a long standing member of the National Association of Social Workers has served on the board of Directors for the South Florida Chapter of the International Association of eating Disorders and remains an active member. Jennifer is a Qualified Supervisor providing group and individual supervision for those who are seeking licensure in the state of Florida. She also is a CEU provider and offers workshops in the areas of addiction, eating disorders and creative therapeutic interventions in the treatment milieu.
Throughout all of Jennifer's agency work, her focus has been not only on helping those clients who struggle with the disease of addiction, but also with the people in their lives that are impacted by it. Jennifer also has maintained her practice throughout the years offering serviced that address issues around eating disorders, addiction, depression, anxiety and personality disorders.
Job Titles:
- Chief Clinical Officer / Chief Diversity Officer
Job Titles:
- Addiction Counselor and Life Coach
- WELLNESS COACH
Kay has been an Addiction Counselor and Life Coach since 2004 and has been in recovery since 1992. Bringing together the best tools and practices from the East and West, she has helped hundreds of clients navigate the sometimes turbulent waters of recovery and create success, joy, and balance in their lives. Prior to starting Bridging Recovery, Kay was a Primary Counselor and Coach for 10 years at InnerBalance Health Center, a holistic treatment center in Loveland, Colorado. At InnerBalance she worked with clients and their families to create successful short-term and long-term recovery plans and then followed clients for 12 to 18 months after their initial treatment resulting in her becoming a transitions expert.
Kay Kimball has been trained in Structured Family Recovery® *STRUCTURED FAMILY RECOVERY® is a specific, well-defined program for addiction recovery management leveraging family systems conducted by practitioners who have completed the Love First, Inc. STRUCTURED FAMILY RECOVERY® Counselor training program and are certified by Love First, Inc. to conduct the program.
Minister Tamara Green was called to Ministry in 1986 and serves as a voice for the voiceless. She is a licensed Minister and an Ordained Deacon committed to serving people in need of help. God has so moved in the life of Minister Green, whereas her ministry is reflected in her secular profession and her desire to be of service. In her profession Tamara has served in executive administrative capacities over the years in the Non-for Profit and Governmental sectors. Providing comprehensive services to persons with Mental illness, Substance Use/Abuse, Homeless, and advocacy for the HIV/AIDS community, and Victims of Domestic Violence. In her current role, she is the Associate Commissioner in the largest municipality in NYC Serving Homeless individuals. She oversees the programing and clinical services that address the needs of the most chronically vulnerable homeless individuals in New York City. Additionally she also serves on the Board of Deacons at the Abyssinian Baptist Church and on the Programing Committee of the American Baptist Churches Association of New York City Metropolitan Area.Tamara is seasoned consultant and a skilled counselor with experience and expertise in integrating spiritual wellness with clinical techniques and evidence based treatment approaches to persons seeking relief from addiction and are seeking recovery. Additionally, she provides professional coaching, spiritual guidance and pastoral counseling to professionals in the helping field and Clergy. Tamara is the co-author a 16 module Domestic Violence Manual created for Adults and Adolescents (Teen Dating Violence) and has presented at Local and National Conferences in her efforts to educate professionals on the dangers of Domestic Abuse and Teen Dating Violence.Minister Tamara Green possesses a Master's of Divinity Degree from New York Theological Seminary, A Master's Degree in Public Administration from Metropolitan College of New York, a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Phycology from the College of New Rochelle, is a credentialed in Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counseling (CASAC); and a licensed Minister called by God.
Job Titles:
- CADC, CIP, BALM Family Recovery Life Coach
- Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor
- WELLNESS COACH
Pat Connors is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, a Certified Intervention Professional and a Certified BALM Family Recovery Life Coach with over 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field. She has worked as a counselor in private practice as well as in inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities. Pat has also worked in Clinical Outreach, recommending treatment facilites that would be aprropriate for an individuals specific needs. She has a particular expertise and passion working with families that are suffering as a result of thier loved ones addiction or mental health disorders. Her dedication to helping families is with drives her to do this work. In her free time she like to spend time with her grandchildren, travel, hike and do yoga.
Job Titles:
- President
- Director for Damon House New York
Ron Clinton's remarkable 24 year experience is highlighted by a personal dedication to organizational effectiveness and empowering others to succeed. He has devoted most of his professional services in the area of assessment, consultation, development, planning, and management providing services and expertise to small mid-size & large companies.
Mr. Clinton has worked as an Intake Director for Damon House New York and continued working in the alcohol & chemical dependency field with Inter-Care Ltd., a Betty Ford affiliate, as a primary therapist. He then worked for Special Care Hospital Management where he developed and implemented acute care medical detoxes in private hospital institutions and served as a business development agent.
Mr. Clinton initiated the first residential treatment provider for Brooklyn Treatment Court and fostered major relationships within the alternative to incarceration community. Mr. Clinton also has developed Physician Practices with a special emphasis on Urgent Care Facilities; he has served as the NYC North Brooklyn Health & Hospital Chairperson for HHC overseeing public hospitals and ensuring they were providing quality care to the communities they served and also ventured into the private hospital arena where he served as the Director of Physician Services for Interfaith Medical Center.
Mr. Clinton was the President and Founder of Helping Hands Unlimited a nonprofit organization providing transitional housing for former substance abusers with chronic mental illness and HIV diagnosis located in Brooklyn, NY. It was through HHU that Mr. Clinton created a mission of bringing forth qualified health professionals into improvised communities to ensure the delivery of quality care. As a community leader and advocate he served on numerous boards and committees; his drive and passion for effecting positive change are evident through his personal efforts in staying involved in community services. He has represented clients in various capacities working closely with inter-governmental affairs at the city state & federal level ensuring the public interest of their clients.
Mr. Clinton spent a large portion of his career in the medical arena owning & operating Diagnostic Testing and Durable Medical Equipment Companies. He provides a wide array of expertise and skills in the areas of crisis intervention management, board development, executive coaching, technical assistance, legislative correspondence, community relations, financial analysis & budget preparation, health care staffing, clinic management, and development of hospital mergers & reorganization. His service portfolio includes real estate development, strategic & business planning, financial & marketing restructuring in the areas of advertisement, media, press releases, and image campaigns as well.
Mr. Clinton graduated from Boricua College with a Bachelor Degree in Human Services and continued his graduate studies at Yeshiva University where he received his Masters in Social Work specializing in community organizing. He also provided second year field instruction for students from NYU, Fordham, Adelphi, and Yeshiva Universities.
With all the success and accomplishments he has achieved his overall greatest success has been providing for his family and always making sure throughout his business accomplishments family is number one!
Mr. Clinton has been trained in Structured Family Recovery® *STRUCTURED FAMILY RECOVERY® is a specific, well-defined program for addiction recovery management leveraging family systems conducted by practitioners who have completed the Love First, Inc. STRUCTURED FAMILY RECOVERY® Counselor training program and are certified by Love First, Inc. to conduct the program. Mr. Clinton also recieved training in the CRAFT technique. Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is designed to improve communication, reduce confrontation, stress and enhance the willingness of engaging a loved one in treatment.
Wendy Weaver has been working in the field of mental health and chemical dependency since 2011. She earned a Master's Degree in Education (M.Ed.) from Florida Atlantic University and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor as well as a Qualified Supervisor in the State of Florida.
Wendy has experience in program development; specifically, vocational rehabilitation services. She has implemented the Recovery Life Skills Program at various treatment facilities in South Florida, designed to assist clients in taking initial steps toward reintegration into the workforce, a vital measure in achieving long-term recovery goals.
Wendy has also been trained in couples work using The Gottman Method. She has found this to be an effective model, as it integrates research-based interventions into her therapy practice.
Wendy also has professional experience working with the student population at Florida Atlantic University's Counseling & Psychological Services Center, as well as with families, children, and couples at the Center for Family Services of Palm Beach County as a SAFE Kids Therapist where she received certification in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Most recently, Wendy completed training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), levels I and II, and utilizes this specific approach to assist clients with resolution of past traumas.