Travis Atkinson, MS, LPC
President Consultant TBD Solutions LLC (MI) Travis has worked in the behavioral health field for the past 15 years. A fierce advocate for efficient, equitable, and cost-effective emergency psychiatric care, Travis has partnered with providers and payers across the country to find meaningful solutions to some of health care’s most challenging issues. Travis has sought out opportunities to infuse mental health treatment and music, bringing musical self-expression groups into psychiatric hospitals and crisis facilities. A native Michigander, Travis enjoys writing and performing music, coaching his daughters’ basketball teams, attending concerts, and stacking pills in the original Nintendo's Dr. Mario. He has traveled to 47 of the 50 states, and he hopes to one day perfect the two-fingered whistle. Travis received his BS in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and his MS in Human Services/Counseling from National-Louis University. He lives in Grand Rapids, MI, with his wife and three daughters. |
Dan Maccia, Psy.D.
Vice President, Conference Committee Co-Chair Vice President of Residential Services Community Research Foundation (CA) Dan Maccia, Psy.D. is a California Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Vice President of Residential Services at Community Research Foundation (CRF) located in San Diego. In this role, he oversees an integrated system of seven regionally located, research-vetted, crisis residential programs called Short Term Acute Residential Treatment (START). Dan was introduced to the crisis residential model and the CRF START programs as a practicum student while completing his Doctorate degree. He quickly recognized the impact these programs had on individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis, accepted a direct service position following his practicum, and then quickly worked his way into crisis residential management. Today, Dan has over 19 years of experience working in crisis residential services and has dedicated his career to this important level of care. He has presented both locally, statewide, and nationally on the START program model. |
Marty Purdy, MA, LPAT,
Treasurer, Conference Committee Co-Chair Director of Child Crisis Services Centerstone (KY) As the Director of Child Crisis Services for Centerstone in Louisville, KY, Marty oversees an array of intensive outpatient, mobile crisis, crisis in-home and school based, and residential crisis stabilization services. Marty has over 26 years of clinical experience with over 23 years focused in the delivery and administration of crisis services. The programs overseen by Marty divert 98% of the clients they serve from higher, more restrictive, levels of care. Marty attributes a great deal of this success to the retention of strong, well trained, mission driven staff. Marty enjoys playing music in a cover band on the weekends, hanging out with his family, and working in his woodshop in his free time. |
Jaime Brewer,
Secretary Program Director (CO) Jaime Brewer is a Clinical Senior Manager at Community Reach Center in Westminster, CO and a board member and secretary for the Crisis Residential Association. She has been working in the behavioral health field since 2010. Jaime received her Bachelor of Art’s in Psychology from Colorado College and her Master’s in International Disaster Psychology from the University of Denver, Graduate School of Professional Psychology. Jaime’s passion for helping others led her to the crisis behavioral health field. Jaime has provided services to refugees in Denver, created a community mental health training program with The Carter Center in Liberia, Africa, provided in-home therapy services to kids and teens at risk of being removed from the home, and most recently has provided leadership at various levels for Crisis and Emergency Behavioral Health Services. Jaime balances her work and home life with her husband, 1 year old baby, and 2 dogs by taking walks with her family, enjoying movies, reading and relaxing at home. |
Carrie Wirick, LPCC- S LICDC - CS
Training & Education Committee Chair Director of Community and Crisis Residential Services Netcare Access (OH) Carrie has thirty years in the mental health and substance abuse treatment field. She has been involved in the Crisis Residential Association from the beginning, and is on the board. She got her Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Bowling Green State University, and her post graduate studies at the University of Dayton. Carrie is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and a Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor in the state of Ohio. She has worked as a substance abuse and mental health counselor in community mental health, hospitals, private practice, managed care, and crisis centers. She has been in management for over 21 years. In her current work, she directs two Crisis Residential units, a high volume Crisis Hotline and Homeless Hotline, and a community trauma support mobile team, as well as maintaining a private practice. If you ask her, she see her job in mental health management is “Making it easy for staff to do the right thing.” Every day, she loves helping people, and through her work in management, she loves helping people help people. No stranger to challenges, she lives in Delaware, Ohio, in a 150 year old house, with her husband and a rambunctious chocolate lab. She is an established, knowledgeable, and engaging trainer in mental health and substance abuse topics. |
Elan Javanfard, LMFT
Communications & Marketing Committee Chair Associate Director of Residential Services Didi Hirsh Mental Health Services (CA) Elan Javanfard is a Psychotherapist (LMFT # 87054) who specializes in reintegrating the whole self, by utilizing present focused methods of discovery and coping. Mr. Javanfard is the Associate Division Director of Crisis Residential Services at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services located in Los Angeles County, California. In his role he oversees 24 crisis residential beds and 40 substance recovery beds with clients experiencing diverse mental health and substance issues, with goals of crisis stabilization and hospital diversion. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education & Psychology. |
Peter Hilen, LMFT
Board Member Administrator of TREEhouse Central Telecare Corporation, (CA) Peter Hilen, LMFT has worked in the field of behavioral health for 15 years. After graduating in 2005 with a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from Alliant International University, Peter began working in the field of adolescent and adult substance abuse case management, family therapy, and individual therapy at Chapman Medical Center. In 2007 Peter joined Saddleback College in the Health and Human Services department teaching the Crisis Intervention and Practicum Site seminar. From 2007 to 2012 Peter managed a variety of program types including inpatient Substance Abuse, Outpatient Substances Abuse, Inpatient Geriatric Psychiatric, and Adult Crisis Residential Programs. Peter currently chairs the Telecare Residential Standardization Group and has assisted in the start-up of several newly established Crisis Residential Programs in Contra Costa County, Orange County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County. Peter has participated on several community and privately held corporate boards such as the Salvation Army in Los Angeles, the Orange County Substance Abuse Network, and the A.F. Gilmore Company in Los Angeles. Since 2012 Peter has been the Program Administrator for The Telecare Treehouse Central location in Orange County. Peter Lives with his wife and 3 children in Orange County and is an avid hockey fan. |
Ranya Hasan, LCPC, NCC
Board Member Mobile Crisis Response/Crisis Residential Supervisor Rosecrance (IL) Ranya has over 10 years of behavioral health experience and leads efforts of bringing collaborative administrations to the table to holistically think-tank to aid the advancement of mental health care. Ranya is triple certified as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, International Certified Advanced Addiction & Drug Counselor, and National Board-Certified Counselor. She previously oversaw Rosecrance’s Crisis Residential Center, Adult Crisis Team, Mobile Crisis Response Team, Crisis Line, and Community Support Teams in Central Illinois. Currently, Ranya works on behavioral intervention efforts with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Dean of Students in the Office of the Dean of Students and on the Mental Health Team for the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office. Through partnering with hospitals, law enforcement jurisdictions, schools, correctional facilities, and rehabilitation providers she works to create meaningful impact that will help reduce instances of crisis and recidivism. Ranya specializes in building and retaining teams that are equipped with clinical knowledge, environmental support, and evidence-based approaches with intentional focus on multiculturalism to meet the needs of communities. In her free time, Ranya domestically and internationally volunteers to provide resource for equity causes, first-generation mentorship, and community development initiatives. Ranya is a self-taught renowned chef of her own kitchen at home and enjoys training to meet personal fitness goals for fun in her free time. |
Kristopher Thompson, LCSW
Board Member Associate Executive Director Crisis Services Lenape Valley Foundation (PA) Kris is passionate about partnering with community members to reduce barriers that limit access to help, including discrimination and prejudice, and providing life-saving resources that can bring healing and improved quality of life. Kris is in his 19th year of service at Lenape Valley Foundation. Kris has spent the last 12 years leading crisis service. He has a back ground in residential treatment and individual/group therapy, is a certified QPR trainer, and graduated from the Zero Suicide Academy in 2014. In 2018, Kris was nominated as a tri-chair of the Bucks County Suicide Prevention Task Force. He currently serve on the Board of Trustees for United Friends School and provide leadership for the committee on Quaker Life at United Friends School. He has a BA in Psychology from Temple University and a Masters in Social Work from Marywood University School of Social Work. Kris loves to spend time raising his three beautiful children ranging in ages 6, 14, and 22 alongside his wife Janet Thompson who is also a Social Worker. As an outdoor enthusiast, Kris enjoys activities such as fly fishing, camping, hiking, running, and lake kayaking. Kris is known to drop everything to fit a show in or cast my flyrod! |
Carol Zuniga, MS, LLP
Board Member
Executive Director
Hegira Health, Inc. (MI)
Carol Zuniga has more than three decades of experience in the healthcare industry and is recognized for delivering the highest level of behavioral health services to residents of metropolitan Detroit. Selected as one of Crain’s “Notable Women in Healthcare” in April 2020, Carol is a leader within her community’s behavioral health network of services and is recognized for incorporating trend-setting high outcome-based programs into the strategic planning of Hegira Health; one such service was the design and implementation in 2015 of what continues as Detroit-Wayne County’s adult crisis service access system. In addition to her passion and achievements developing and supporting her team’s programs along the crisis service continuum, including crisis residential, mobile crisis stabilization, opioid rapid-response teams, law enforcement co-responder services and Hegira’s Zero Suicide platform, other notable accomplishments include spearheading the development of Hegira’s Children’s Specialty Services Division and leading her team in attaining federal grant awards, including CCBHC Expansion and Pathway to Suicide Prevention grants. Carol has been an avid and competitive tennis player most of her life. She has enjoyed extensive travel both domestically and abroad with her husband, Jorge. And when not traveling or on a tennis court, she spends her non-work time on projects for her 3 grandsons and two french bulldogs.
Board Member
Executive Director
Hegira Health, Inc. (MI)
Carol Zuniga has more than three decades of experience in the healthcare industry and is recognized for delivering the highest level of behavioral health services to residents of metropolitan Detroit. Selected as one of Crain’s “Notable Women in Healthcare” in April 2020, Carol is a leader within her community’s behavioral health network of services and is recognized for incorporating trend-setting high outcome-based programs into the strategic planning of Hegira Health; one such service was the design and implementation in 2015 of what continues as Detroit-Wayne County’s adult crisis service access system. In addition to her passion and achievements developing and supporting her team’s programs along the crisis service continuum, including crisis residential, mobile crisis stabilization, opioid rapid-response teams, law enforcement co-responder services and Hegira’s Zero Suicide platform, other notable accomplishments include spearheading the development of Hegira’s Children’s Specialty Services Division and leading her team in attaining federal grant awards, including CCBHC Expansion and Pathway to Suicide Prevention grants. Carol has been an avid and competitive tennis player most of her life. She has enjoyed extensive travel both domestically and abroad with her husband, Jorge. And when not traveling or on a tennis court, she spends her non-work time on projects for her 3 grandsons and two french bulldogs.
Alexandria Thomas
Board Member
Manager at the Wellness and Recovery Center
Neighborhood Properties (OH)
Alexandria Thomas is the Manager of Wellness and Recovery Center (WRC) at Neighborhood Properties. The state of Ohio’s first peer run mental health respite care center. As a Cleveland native, Alex is a graduate of The University of Toledo and has chosen to call Toledo home for the last 9 years where she has dedicated her life to community mental health and the needs of others. Currently, the WRC employs up to 20 peers who use their own life experiences to help community members overcome challenges while reducing the need for emergency psychiatric and or substance use services. Under Alex’s management, the WRC staff perform at a 96% satisfaction rate with guests who have described their stay as “relaxing” and “refreshing” amongst other things. The WRC was also the recipient of the 2019 Innovation and Excellence award provided by The Greater Toledo Community Foundation and The Andersons. However, when Alex is not working or volunteering in the community, you will likely find her at home where she lives with her Fiancé Thomas, her two dogs Sonni and Petey, and her cat better known as “Kitty”.
Board Member
Manager at the Wellness and Recovery Center
Neighborhood Properties (OH)
Alexandria Thomas is the Manager of Wellness and Recovery Center (WRC) at Neighborhood Properties. The state of Ohio’s first peer run mental health respite care center. As a Cleveland native, Alex is a graduate of The University of Toledo and has chosen to call Toledo home for the last 9 years where she has dedicated her life to community mental health and the needs of others. Currently, the WRC employs up to 20 peers who use their own life experiences to help community members overcome challenges while reducing the need for emergency psychiatric and or substance use services. Under Alex’s management, the WRC staff perform at a 96% satisfaction rate with guests who have described their stay as “relaxing” and “refreshing” amongst other things. The WRC was also the recipient of the 2019 Innovation and Excellence award provided by The Greater Toledo Community Foundation and The Andersons. However, when Alex is not working or volunteering in the community, you will likely find her at home where she lives with her Fiancé Thomas, her two dogs Sonni and Petey, and her cat better known as “Kitty”.