MEET THE STAFF

Acting Director of Adolescent Services

Heather is currently the Acting Director of the Aspire program.  She is also responsible for providing administrative oversight for all the Turning Point facilities and ensuring that services are consistent with the organization’s mission.

Heather is a licensed psychotherapist and addiction professional with clinical and administrative experience in mental health and substance abuse programs. She has been in the public sector since 2003 and has wide-ranging experience with program development, quality improvement, licensure and grant procurement on the state, county and federal level.

Heather has a comprehensive understanding of psychiatric illness and practices for community behavioral health services, and a strong knowledge of the interplay between mental illness and the criminal justice system. She has extensive experience working with diverse groups of patients with biological and psychological addictions and proficiency in the coordination and planning of complex treatment interventions for co-occurring patients overcoming acute and chronic difficulties.

Heather holds an MBA (2022), a MA in Applied Clinical and Counseling Psychology (2004) and Certificate in Non-Profit Management (2017) from William Paterson University. She earned her BA in Psychology from Cornell University (2000).

Primary Counselor

Bio coming soon

Care Manager/Transportation

Bio coming soon

Lead Teacher

Karen oversees the academic component and makes sure it runs smoothly. We typically work with up to 20 different school districts so this can be a quite complicated position.

Karen managed to accomplish this task with grace and ease and has now built her own relationships with districts that have emailed me to compliment her performance. Karen goes out of her way to make sure that every student is able to not only get their work to keep their grades up, but she digs deeper into why they might be struggling. Many times, it is underlying issues such as ADHD which has exacerbated their substance use. 

I watched an adolescent go from a D student to a B student once Karen noticed how distractible he was, and our APN diagnosed and placed him on ADHD medication. This student began smiling and realized his capabilities. This not only raised his self esteem but also helped him to achieve complete abstinence from substances and improve his family relationships. 

This is why I do what I do. There is no better feeling than to have a parent come onto family group smiling and say to me, “I feel like we have our son back, he comes out of his room and watches tv with us now, he talks at the dinner table!” These precious family moments that are the simplest ones, are the ones most missed by many families that enter our doors. 

Office Administrator

Paola came to Aspire when we were quite busy and short staffed. She is always ready to help in any way. Paola is able to communicate well with not only the families at time of assessment, but her warm personality has been an asset in working with the adolescents as well. I watched Paola calm down an upset student that managed to find her way to Paola’s desk. This student went from feeling angered to laughing and being able to complete the day without struggle. Paola juggles speaking with schools, parents, and handles financial responsibilities daily. She is an asset to our team.

This past school year there were 3 students who graduated high school who would not have been able to without the work of the Aspire team. This gives me great fulfillment to know that we helped.