Professional

I am a Limited License Professional Counselor, Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor, and Certified Clinical Supervisor. I have a Masters in Psychology from Montana State University-Billings and a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Walden University. I also have a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan – Flint and earned two certificates of completion in Radio and Television Broadcasting from Specs Howard School of Media Arts.

I have been working in the behavioral health field for over ten years including outpatient SUD services and inpatient psychiatric care. Currently, I work as the Substance Use Disorder Family Support Program Supervisor with Professional Counseling Center overseeing a program that provides in-home clinical services to substance affected families involved with CPS or Foster Care across five counties in the Thumb. I also work as a Coordinator for MORT, or Mobile Overdose Response Team, across St. Clair County with Port Huron Odyssey House; a program which I helped develop that provides post overdose support in partnership with the Port Huron, Marysville, St. Clair, and Yale police departments. Beyond working in the healthcare field I have seven years of radio broadcasting experience, including working locally at WSAQ “Q Country 107” for four years.

Advocate

In the community, I have spent countless hours working on the expansion of access to behavioral health treatment and for innovative approaches to reduce the community impact of opioid overdose. This would include the creation and expansion of the MORT program which helped reduce the number of known overdoses in Port Huron from 102 in 2022 to just 54 in 2023 (source). For over three years, I have worked to drastically increase the amount of naloxone available is St. Clair County. In 2022, I was able to secure roughly $25,000 in funds from MDHHS to expand access to naloxone through the purchase of distribution boxes. Since that time I personally have ordered and helped distribute over 5,300 naloxone kits in St. Clair County which assisted in reducing the number of opioid related deaths by nearly 50% between 2021 and 2022. Last year, I provided testimony with the Health Policy Subcommittee on Behavioral Health in support of HB 5077 which provides clarity in Michigan’s naloxone distribution legislation.

Since 2019, I have been the Chair of the St. Clair County Community Services Coordinating Body’s (CSCB) Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery workgroup working to coordinate efforts of area professionals in regard to data collection and dissemination, community education and outreach, and community resources. In August 2023, I moderated a virtual town hall on substance abuse in St. Clair County post COVID-19 (video). Since it’s creation, I have presented at St. Clair County CMH’s annual Recovery Summit both as an individual presenter and as part of a panel of community leaders. I have also done presentation across the state for multiple other groups including the Michigan Opioid Collaborative, Sanford Behavioral Health, the Rural Community Health Worker Network, and the MDHHS Social Determinants of Health Summit.

Since 2023, I have been an appointed member of the St. Clair County Health Department’s Advisory Board representing District 1. I am a member of PHPD’s Chief’s Community Resource Champions, have participated in the County’s “Better Together” Diversity Initiative, helped organize St. Clair County’s Overdose Fatality Review Team (OFR), worked to establish the Health Department’s Community Health Improvement Plan, and work with County leaders to develop a plan on how to most effectively utilize the $13M+ in opioid settlement funds. From 2020- 2023 I worked as a consultant with MDHHS on three separate workgroups as part of Michigan’s redesign of Child Protective Services. Additionally, I have worked on a community based participatory research project with MSU’s Addiction Consortium on Research and Education Network to develop a SUD Health Equity Report Card and Landscape Analysis of SUD services in St. Clair County.

Individual

Born in 1982, I am considered an “Elder Millennial” or someone who grew up in both the analog and digital worlds. I grew up with records and cassettes and transitioned to MP3s and streaming platforms, and went through the changeover from house phones to smartphones. This has helped create a sense of both traditionalism and progressivism, leaving me old enough to be nostalgic for the “good ole days” while seeing the possibilities of the future. This helps shape my overall political view, we need to make sure that we don’t just continue to do things because “we’ve always done it that way”, while also making sure that we don’t impulsively jump towards whatever new thing sounds promising without first doing our homework.

I grew up in the small town of Linden, Michigan in southern Genesee county near both farm land and the city of Flint. This allowed me to develop a unique understanding of people and how differently cultures can be despite not being geographically far from each other. In 2009, I moved to St. Clair County after going to Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center to help overcome an opioid use disorder. Like many of those my age I had injuries in the early 2000s and the best solution the doctor’s could come up with is to dispense pain meds, and lots of them. Throw in mental health concerns and transitioning from being a young adult to an independent adult and things didn’t go the way I had imagined when I was a kid. This lived experience with mental health and substance use disorder is what has inspired my professional life. As a person in long-term recovery I have seen too many people pass away that had more to offer than being a cautionary tale or another statistic. I realized that what happened in my life could be used to benefit others and to create change for the better to possibly prevent someone else from unnecessary struggles and pain.

In 2010, I met my significant other Carrie, we have been together since and have two incredible sons. We have lived in St. Clair County continuously, outside a quick three years in Billings, Montana while I earned my first Masters Degree. We have spent time living in Burtchville, Smith’s Creek, and Port Huron and are lucky enough to be building our dream home in Lakeport near Lake Huron. We enjoy traveling to Arizona, camping throughout Michigan, attending Detroit Tigers games, and keeping busy with our sons. Over the years I have been able to be a Cub Scout’s Den Leader and also a Little League coach for my boys.