Destination Change: Recent Episodes
Angie Sutton
Dr. Best is Professor and Director of the Centre for Addiction Recovery Research (CARR) at Leeds Trinity University, Honorary Professor of Regulation and Global Governance at The Australian National University, Adjunct Associate Professor of Addiction Science at Monash University (Melbourne) and Affiliate Senior Scientist at the Public Health Institute in California. He is also a founding member of the College of Lived Experience Recovery Organisations in the UK and of the Inclusive Recovery Cities movement where he is chair of Inclusive Recovery Cities UK.
Trained as a psychologist and criminologist, he has worked in practice, research and policy in the areas of addiction recovery and rehabilitation of offenders. He has authored or co-edited seven books on addiction recovery and desistance from offending and has written more than 240 peer-reviewed journal publications and around 70 book chapters and technical reports. As of December 2024, he has an h-index of 44 and a total of 7005 citations of his academic work. He is one of the leading academics in the area of addiction recovery and a key innovator in developing recovery capital measurement tools and methods.
Gina Thorne brings three decades of expertise in behavioral health, specializing in business development and marketing. Her extensive background spans private and public sectors, working with in-patient treatment centers, psychiatric hospitals, and educational institutions across several states, including Florida, New York, and Colorado.
Gina has been instrumental in leading marketing, alumni relations, and admissions efforts for prominent treatment programs on both coasts. Her achievements include co-founding the Colorado Professional Liaison Association (CO-PLA) and serving in key roles like Board Co-Chair for Treatment Professionals in Alumni Services (TPAS). With a deep understanding of mental health and substance use disorder treatment, Gina excels at collaborating with revenue-generating departments to drive sustainable census growth. In 2021, she launched GTC Consulting, focusing on overcoming barriers to growth and enhancing organizational visibility within the behavioral health landscape.
Nick Jaworski is an internationally recognized executive in the field of behavioral health marketing and operational consulting with experience building organizations across four continents. As the owner of Circle Social Inc., he has helped healthcare organizations ranging in revenue from $10 million to $300 million a year perform turn-rounds and accelerate growth.
He is a recipient of the prestigious Jefferson Award for his work in mental health, is an adviser to the board for the National Behavioral Health Association of Providers, and is also on the board for one of the most innovative treatment programs in the country – Above and Beyond Recovery in Chicago. When he's not online, he can be found spending time with his favorite person in the whole world, his daughter.
A native of New Jersey, who now lives in Oklahoma, Mark Attanasi has been in recovery for 25 years. He is currently the CEO of IC&RC which provides peer credentialing exams.
He brings a wealth of knowledge, and formerly served as the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Drug & Alcohol Professional Counselor Association since 2010. Moreover, Attanasi has over 21 years of non-profit leadership experience, and has been in the behavioral health field since 1999.
Drew LaBoon serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Pathways Recovery Centers, where he combines leadership, operational excellence, and a passion for innovation to advance substance abuse treatment. In addition to his role at Pathways, Drew is the Co-Founder and President of the Board of Pathways to Innovation, a nonprofit organization focused on transforming the mental health and substance abuse treatment industry.
Drew is a retired Special Operator who served in multiple high-stress combat deployments. His military career instilled in him resilience, leadership, and a solutions-oriented mindset, all of which he applies to his work in healthcare. A passionate advocate for recovery, Drew draws from his own journey of overcoming substance abuse to inspire others. Through his work, Drew is driving meaningful change in the lives of those impacted by substance abuse, setting a new standard for care in the industry.
Tim Cesario has worked in the field of substance use counseling since 1990 as a counselor, clinical supervisor, team leader and program director. He currently serves as the Director of Recovery Services for Cumberland River Behavioral Health, Inc. During his time as director, Tim developed programs to meet the needs of people with substance use disorder in underserved areas of southeastern Kentucky. In 2012, he founded TJC Consulting, LLC, and provides consultation to organizations seeking to develop treatment programs, assist with grant writing and provides trainings throughout Kentucky and several other states.
Tim is the former Chair of IC&RC's Board of Directors, a position he held from May of 2021 until October of 2023. Tim was a member of the Kentucky Board of Alcohol and Drug Counselors from August 2014 to January of 2024 and served as board chair from November of 2018 until leaving the board. He currently serves as chair of the Kentucky Agency for Substance Abuse Policy, a role he has held since August of 2020.
Dr. Louise Stanger LCSW, CDWF, CIP, CILC is a preeminent interventionist, family clinician /coach and thought leader in the behavioral health (mental health and addition) industry. She serves as Director of Family Services for YPM, a global initiative to help mitigate risk. She also serves as a clinician Interventionist for The Balance - Mallorca, Zurich London.
Dr. Louise has received many distinguished awards for her work. She is a prolific writer with over 500 blog posts and magazine and newspaper articles, and the author of four books. She continues to do her own original work looking at families, trauma and how one can help others matter in a world full chaos.
Julie Seitz is a Project Director with the Impaired Driving Solutions (IDS), All Rise (formerly NADCP) division, providing training and technical assistance to the treatment court field. Julie joined IDS in 2018, bringing 20 years of experience working in the clinical sector and community program development. Before joining IDS, Julie was the clinical director of an internationally recognized treatment center offering the entire continuum of clinical care, including a first-of-its-kind direct access opioid withdrawal unit, where she was the project lead. As a published author and clinician, she has spent the last 20 years of her career giving clients a voice. Her work with clients has focused feedback informed, research, and outcome-driven practice. Julie has trained at the local, national, and international levels.
In 2010, Jordan’s personal recovery and desire to help others pushed him away from corporate B2B sales and towards behavioral healthcare. He began his career in an admissions role at the corporate headquarters of one of the industry’s most respected companies. In that role, he worked with over 4,000 patients and their families to coordinate treatment with hundreds of treatment centers around the country and facilitate intervention services. In 2018, his aspirations to make a more significant impact on behavioral healthcare led to the creation of Jordan and Associates Consulting, whose purpose is to leverage the experience, education, and thousands of connections made in the industry to help treatment centers overcome obstacles blocking their path to success.
He is an avid sports fan, and the only job that could pull him away from behavioral healthcare is when the Tennessee Titans call to name him their head coach.
Dr. B J Davis (he/him) is the Executive Director of Sacramento Recovery House residential treatment programs and the owner of Davis Consulting. Additionally, Dr. Davis is an Adjunct Professor in the Forensic and Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Alliant International University, is a consultant to the Sacramento AIDS Housing Alliance, and is the past vice chair of the CAADAC Counselor Certification Board.
Dr. Davis is the author of the 2009 DVD What is Recovery?: A Quality-of-Life Perspective, and is considered an excellent motivational speaker and is an often sought out lecturer, presenter, and keynote speaker regarding addictions treatment, criminal justice reform, and addressing issues related to diversity.
Dr. Davis has significant experience testifying as an expert witness on substance abuse in criminal cases and is a strong advocate for challenging some of the long-held myths about what works in substance abuse and offender reentry programs. Dr. Davis has been committed to teaching students and clinical staff both the science and art of counseling for over 20 years. Recently, Dr. Davis has facilitated several workshops related to the psychology of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and its impact on providing recovery related services for African-American clients.
Dr. Jason Roop is the founder and CEO of the Center for Trait-Based Transformation and serves as the Vice President of Research and Development for Hometown Health System.
Having experienced 17 years of active addiction, which led to homelessness, Jason entered treatment in 2013 and has been in recovery ever since. An author of several publications on the leadership traits of individuals with substance use disorder, Jason is a frequent speaker at national addiction treatment conferences and is a member of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission.
Jason's research emphasizes the inherent strengths and qualities of individuals with substance use disorders. His innovative work has redefined the perception of addiction by highlighting how personality and character traits can be harnessed for positive outcomes. He advocates for accessible treatment options for all, comprehensive aftercare support, and the adoption of person-centered, evidence-based practices in behavioral healthcare.
Jeffrey Quamme is the Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Certification Board, a workforce development agency focused on the SUD prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction industry.
He is an internationally certified Master's level addiction counselor and clinical supervisor, and holds credentials as a Certified Nonprofit Executive and Certified Nonprofit Consultant. He is an expert trainer as well as a podcaster and author.
Ryan Hampton is a nationally recognized activist and organizer. He's a person in recovery from addiction and the author of Unsettled and American Fix.
A prominent speaker, author, media commentator and panel participant, Ryan travels coast-to-coast to add solutions to our current addiction epidemic. A former White House staffer, he has worked with multiple non-profits and national recovery advocacy campaigns. This includes Mobilize Recovery.
As an educator, organizational consultant, and psychotherapist, Lee Dalphonse has consistently been recognized as a tireless advocate for the underserved, with his advocacy targeting issues of access, quality, and effectiveness of mental health and addiction-related services. Recognized locally and nationally as an agent of change, Lee has consistently been at the forefront of emerging best practices, and an early adopter of numerous innovations in care delivery that are now considered the gold standard of care.
Lee holds dual state licensure as a Mental Health Counselor, and as a Chemical Dependency Clinical Supervisor, and he is Board Certified nationally in mental health counseling, and Board Certified internationally in alcohol and other drug counseling. Lee’s work experience includes nearly fourteen years as an Adjunct Instructor in the Graduate Counseling program at Rhode Island College. Throughout his career, Lee has also provided training and organizational consultation services to a variety of audiences, governmental entities, and human service organizations throughout the United States and Canada.
Lee’s leadership in the behavioral health world has been recognized via several awards, and was recently the Vice-Chair of the IC&RC Board of Directors.
Jen Carvalho is a proven leader in the behavioral health industry -- adeptly leading in times of crisis and calm. As a facility and system CEO for much of her career, she has developed a leadership style that supports professional and system development, transparency, and global thinking. To that end, Jen has served on the boards of CCAPP, NBHAP, and NAATP.
Currently the President/COO of Your Behavioral Health, Jen is focused on providing dynamic leadership to multi-disciplinary teams with converging goals. Despite a significant focus on the work of providing access to care, Jen is grounded by her family and a long practice of adventure running.
Andrew Kessler, JD, is founder and principal of Slingshot Solutions LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in behavioral health policy. His clients, past and present, include IC&RC, CCAPP, and NBHAP.
With 20 years of policy experience and over a decade in behavioral health, Andrew is a fixture in circles that advocate for substance abuse treatment, prevention, and research. He collaborates frequently with congressional offices, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, NIDA, SAMHSA, and other federal actors.
Andrew has written legislation and report language adopted by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, and has presented orally before such bodies as the Scientific Management Review Board, the National Conference on Addictive Disorders, and the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.
Nick Stavros is the CEO of Community Medical Services, where he has worked for the past 10 years.
Previously, Nick was an intelligence analyst and Arabic linguist in the U.S. Army and finished his military career as an Airborne/Ranger-qualified Infantry Captain and Iraq War veteran. Upon honorably discharging from the Army, Stavros received his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and is an alumnus of the Arizona Valley Leadership Institute.
Nick is on the board of the National Association for Behavioral Health (NABH) and chairs its Medication Sub-committee. He is also the Arizona representative to the American Association of the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) and the president of the Arizona Chapter of AATOD, which provides collaborative opportunities for facilities throughout the state. Nick is also on the ASU Medical Advisory Board, AZ Parent’s Commission on Drug Education & Prevention with the AZ Governor’s office, an Advisory Board Member of the National Conference on Addiction Disorders, and a board member for HMP’s Treatment Center Investment & Valuation Retreat (East & West).
Tom Karl is the founder and chief executive officer of R1 Learning. Through R1, Tom’s goal is to put impactful self-discovery tools into the hands of individuals in recovery and empower them to change their lives.
Tom is a graduate of Duke University with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. Tom currently volunteers on the Patient & Family Engagement Advisory Council at Inova Healthcare System in Virginia. He is active in the recovery community, is a founding member of RecoveryDC, and volunteers with patient engagement programs.
Yvonne Vollaire has been active in the drug and alcohol treatment industry for over twenty + years with intensive involvement in civic, private, and non-profit organizations. Yvonne has been serving justice-involved individuals and specializing in gender-responsive services for incarcerated women and has managed numerous programs in custody and community-based organizations.
Yvonne has spearheaded the Sheriff’s Community Alliance, composed of community and faith-based organizations with existing funding sources dedicated to providing a seamless continuum of care for our retuning citizens being released. Her most recent assignment was contracted with the Los Angeles Sheriff's department (LASD) serving as the Director of the Gender Responsive Rehabilitation Program at the Lynwood County Jail.
Yvonne has invested in creating a safe space for women wanted to exit the sex work industry. Yvonne is the author of Connecting the Dots, “Repairing Generational Trauma”, a Workbook for Women in Addiction, Incarceration & Exploitation. Yvonne’s work is motivated by her past trauma, incarceration, and self-healing to connect the dots. Yvonne is a mentor to students, a sponsor to women in the recovery community.
Mell McCracken is a trauma informed substance abuse counselor and Associate Sex Addiction therapist currently working at Breathe Life Healing Center as a Chemsex Program Manager. They are a seasoned chemsex counselor that utilizes an experiential based, sex positive, gay affirmative approach to recovery from addiction and compulsive sexual behaviors. Mell is also a faculty member with the International Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP) and a Rainbow Advocate Educator.
Dan Manson has been working in the substance abuse treatment industry for over 27 years. His passion is helping addicts not only address their addictions, but dive deep into themselves and their own vision for the future. This includes really discovering who they are inside (often for the first time), who they want to have in their lives and what drives them to want to live a better life.
Dan is the co-Founder, President and Chairman of Elevate Addiction Services. He has appeared on television, radio and in the news. Most recently, he has written a book called Redefining Addiction, Reinventing Recovery: A common-sense guide to America’s biggest problem which addresses the challenges faced not only by individuals in treatment and their loved ones, but by the treatment programs themselves, including their challenges with insurance companies, documenting outcomes and delivering excellent care to its population..
Dr. Patrick Lockwood grew up in a small southern Missouri town, enculturated with classical southern and Midwestern values like honesty, integrity, and the “neighborly” way of relating to people. He completed his B.A. in psychology at the University of Missouri, then moved to L.A. to earn his Doctorate of Psychology at TCSPP.
Dr. Lockwood has worked for non-profits, treatment centers, and has been a part of a number of startups over the past ten years. His background in community interventions began before he even graduated from the University of Missouri where he successfully co-authored a grant creating a virtual intervention to help parents on campus become more connected and develop a supportive community while working at Parentlink, a division of the university’s college of education.
Dr. Lockwood has trained with experts in the field of addiction treatment and has worked at every level of the treatment industry. He is currently an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University, teaching future clinicians about clinical skills, addiction, and research analysis. He also has a podcast on YouTube about topics related to mental health, wellness, psychology, and neuroscience called “The Psychology Checkup.” Finally, Dr. Lockwood is the author of The Fear Problem, a book integrating the neuroscience and evolutionary psychology of our fear process to explain why we get triggered by politics and other “hot topics.”
Marlon Rollins, PhD, LPCC, LMHC is a member of the California Hospital Association, and a licensed therapist with more than 15 years of experience in mental health, dual diagnosis, and addiction treatment management. He has served as CEO and COO at some of the largest psychiatric hospitals and addiction programs in the state of California.
In his role as COO and President of Addiction Services with Renewal Health Group, Marlon supports leadership to align operations to meet organization goals. He also advises on strategic planning with the CEO and CFO to help enhance program services.
Dr. Rollins is the author of Healing the Impoverished Mind: Building Resilience Through Adversity. He is a suicide loss survivor of his sister Amber who was a nurse and battled addiction. He dedicates his work to honor her memory of caring for others. He is a board member of United Survivors International. He has also served as a BIPOC mentor with the American Association of Suicidology, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Dr. Rollins is passionate about enhancing quality of life and well-being through high quality care. As an ordained minister, he uses his faith and experiences to inspire others to seek healing.
Harry Nelson is the founder and managing partner of Nelson Hardiman, LLP, as well as the founder of the National Behavioral Health Association of Providers.
Beyond his legal expertise, Harry is known nationally as a consummate leader at the intersection of healthcare law and business, as evidenced by his role in co-founding five healthcare-related start-ups in the last decade. Deeply immersed in healthcare transformation and innovation; he frequently speaks on cutting edge issues and the future of the industry itself.
Zac Spowart is nomadic in nature, and presently resides in Bali, Indonesia, after living in a variety of states around the USA. He is open about his 16 years of recovery from alcohol and other drugs, with a sobriety date of 11/28/2006, and as such has adopted the name “Nomadic Addictt” to account for his lifestyle and passions.
He has been successful in numerous departments within the behavioral health care industry. He has experience in clinical services, compliance, quality assurance, program development, and business management and strategy.
He dedicates his time to the addiction and behavioral health care industry, focusing on assisting clients/patients in landing at the best quality programs around the world through means of digital content. He accomplishes this as the Director of Operations for Addiction Recovery, a company that specializes in organic recovery-oriented content for web pages and blogs, written by writers in recovery.
Dave Sheridan is the Executive Director of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences. He is a national speaker and writer with a primary focus on the development and operation of statewide recovery housing systems. He is also an advocate and resource on fair housing issues.
His professional background is in institutional investments, and he currently advises mid-size companies on matters including asset management, capital structure, business combinations, new venture financing and business planning.
His behavioral health industry experience includes CFO and COO positions with a prominent southern California provider. Dave also serves on the board of the Chandler Lodge Foundation in North Hollywood, California.
Pete Nielsen is the President and Chief Executive Officer for the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP), CCAPP Credentialing, CCAPP Education Institute and the National Behavioral Health Association of Providers (NBHAP), and the Publisher of Counselor Magazine.
Kristina Padilla, the Vice President of Education and Strategic Development for the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP), Chief Academic Officer for CCAPP Education Institute, and Chief Academic Officer for the CCAPP Academy.