Dr. Andrew J. Finch

Dr. Andrew J. Finch is Associate Professor of the Practice and School Counseling Coordinator for the Human Development Counseling Program in the Department of Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University.  Dr. Finch is a leader in the development and research of recovery high schools in the United States, and he is co-founder of the Association of Recovery Schools.  Among his published works are Starting a Recovery School and Approaches to Substance Abuse and Addiction in Educational Communities:  A Guide to Practices that Support Recovery in Adolescents and Young Adults, on which he was a co-editor.

Roger Oser

Roger Oser currently serves as the Principal at ABCD’s William J. Ostiguy Recovery High School since its inception in October 2006, on of the first high schools in Massachusetts for young people in recovery from substance abuse addiction and the first recovery high school to receive national accreditation by the Association of Recovery Schools. He is deeply committed to the education of urban youth and has been working with youth in alternative settings for 15 years. Roger has served as co-chair of the Boston Youth Service Network since 2004 and is also the Secretary for the Association of Recovery Schools Board of Directors.

Sasha McLean

Sasha McLean, is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the Executive Director of Archway Academy, a high school for teens in recovery from drug/alcohol addiction in Houston, TX.  She is also the Vice Chairman of the Association of Recovery Schools (ARS) and a huge advocate for recovery and education.  Prior to Archway, Sasha was the Director of The High Road as The Council on Alcohol and Drugs Houston where she ran the adolescent intensive outpatient program.  Sasha is a sough-after presenter by many organizations and speaks nationwide about addiction/recovery, recovery schools, teen development, failure to launch and media influences on youth.

Rachelle Gardner

Rachelle Gardner is the Chief Operating Officer for Hope Academy, a recovery high school located in Indianapolis, IN. She is also the Director of Adolescent Services at Fairbanks, a treatment center associated with Hope Academy. Rachelle has her Masters in organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. She has been in the field of addiction and recovery for over 20 years. As the Chairperson for the Association of Recovery Schools, Rachelle leads this dynamic Board of Directors by being a humble example of how to be a servant leader, always putting what is best for the schools and the students above all else.

Michael Durchslag

Michael Durchslag is the Director of P.E.A.S.E. Academy (Peers Enjoying a Sober Education), the oldest sober school in the United States. He began working for P.E.A.S.E. in November, 1995 as a Social Studies teacher. Michael became the school’s Director in January, 2007. He is a licensed 7-12 social studies teacher and earned his Masters of Arts in Teaching from the University of St. Thomas in 2002. Michael also holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Beloit College (1991). He is committed to making P.E.A.S.E. Academy a powerful learning community that is serious about recovery. Michael and P.E.A.S.E. Academy have been long-time supporters and members of ARS and he is excited to be a board member.

Greg Williams

Greg Williams, Co-Founder of Facing Addiction: Greg is a person in long-term recovery from addiction. He is the award winning documentary filmmaker of The Anonymous People and Generation Found. Greg has a Masters degree in health finance and addiction public policy from New York University, and over a decade of experience working with non-profits and government agencies on addiction. Greg served as one of the Executive Producers of the historic UNITE to Face Addiction rally on the National Mall on October 4, 2015, and Facing Addiction In America - A National Summit where the first-ever Surgeon General Report on alcohol, drugs, and health was released on November 17, 2016 (B.A. Quinnipiac University; M.A. New York University).

Anette Edens, PhD, MBA

Dr. Anette Edens, author of From Monsters to Miracles: Parent-Driven Recovery Tools That Work, is a licensed clinical psychologist and president of Cornerstone Recovery, Inc., a nonprofit Alternative Peer Group. She has presented professional papers, lectures, and workshops, and has addressed teens, college students, and parents regarding a wide range of topics related to substance abuse and recovery, the associated family dynamics, and codependency.  She serves on the board of the Menninger Foundation, is a trustee for the John M. O’Quinn Foundation, a member of the Board of Visitors for the University of Houston, and a founding member of the AAPG board.

Dr. Edens began her career as a psychology faculty member at a small private university. Her research (summarized in the introduction to Recovering Our Children by Cates & Cummings) increasingly spotlighted the inadequacy of traditional treatment models to address the growing crisis of adolescent substance abuse. She took a sabbatical from her tenured faculty position to join a group of passionate parents and advisors with whom she developed and opened a sober high school in Houston, Archway Academy, now recognized nationally as exemplary among sober high schools. She then opened an APG and outpatient treatment practice for young adults and their parents. When she began consulting with Cornerstone Recovery, Inc., she resigned her faculty position to serve as the organization’s president.

By coupling her professional education and experience with her personal encounters with substance abusing individuals, she developed keen insight into the relationship between personal behavioral choices, destructive behavior, and resistance to change. She has been in long-term recovery from codependency for twenty years. She has provided innovative and effective approaches to emotional healing in families, individuals, and couples. Her work with families whose adolescents abuse substances has earned wide acceptance in the academic, professional, and recovery communities.