Recovery Innovations

Recovery Services Administrator, Ventura County

After graduating from college with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a minor in Military Science, I was commissioned as an officer in the Army Finance Corps. I served in South Korea and West Germany and left the military after three years of active duty.

A few years later, I decided I wanted to study for the ministry. I moved to Virginia and began my graduate studies in theology. I also picked up a master’s degree in Business Management.

My psychiatric challenges became pretty serious and for a while I wasn’t making much forward progress. Then, I learned about WRAP and began to hear the message of recovery. I became an active advocate for recovery services in Virginia and was trained as a mental health recovery educator in several curricula. After being unemployed for five years, I took a part-time position as the founding director of VOCAL’s REACH program. REACH is a statewide recovery education program focusing on WRAP. Through REACH, I had the opportunity to work closely with Gene Johnson and Lori Ashcraft on several occasions.

I spent three rewarding years with REACH but I felt I wanted to expand my career opportunities. When Gene Johnson told me that he wanted to open a Recovery Innovations office in Virginia and asked if I would be interested in running it, I jumped at the chance. My desire is to grow recovery-based services and education throughout Virginia. Then another opportunity opened up in Ventura County, California in 2009 to work with a great team of individuals who desire to inspire hope in others. I moved across country to sunny California where I live with my cat, Patches.