Chemical Dependency Studies

Jeannie has worked in the Addiction and Recovery field since 1999. She has worked in residential, inpatient, outpatient and dual diagnosis settings. Jeannie is a counselor, a teacher, a trainer, an Interventionist, and a Certified Relapse Prevention Specialist.

In addition to the practice, Jeannie currently is the director of business development for Good Samaritan Hospital’s Behavioral Health Department. She worked previously for CRC Health as a counselor for e-Get Going, one of the first online substance abuse treatment programs to exist as well as an Intake specialist placing literally thousands of individuals in treatment across the country. She was an addictions counselor at Good Samaritan Hospital's Behavioral Health Outpatient Department and the Continuing Care Coordinator at Bayside Marin in San Rafael. Jeannie is dynamic, inspirational and highly motivational.

Jeannie has been a professor at Cal State University Hayward since 2007 teaching Alcohol and Drug Studies. Jeannie is the Clinical Director at the group practice of Research West BHS in Los Gatos and has seen clients there since 2004. She is one of the main interventionists and is involved in the case management models of the practice.

Pete Caldwell has been teaching the Basic Counseling I and II core curriculum classes since 1989.  A Bay Area native, Caldwell received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his Masters in Counseling Psychology from CSUEB and has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at numerous institutions throughout northern California.  He has been licensed as an MFT for the past 20 years providing therapeutic services to the types of clients his students plan to serve.  He is also the executive director of We Care Services for Children; an East Bay non-profit addressing the mental health and developmental needs of at-risk children.

Mary Crocker Cook is a 28 year veteran in the addiction and recovery field. She developed and coordinates the San Jose City College Alcohol and Drug Studies Program, has served as Clinical Director in multiple treatment facilities, and has owned her own treatment facility. She administers an online training site, and has recently launched her new project, People in Long Term recovery, an anti-stigma site. Let’s keep the focus on the contribution recovering people make – we are worth the investment!

Mary has authored several texts used in addiction counseling training. These include,Awakening Hope. A Developmental, Behavioral, Biological Approach to Codependency; Afraid to let Go. For Parents of Adult Addicts and Alcoholics; and her novel, Welcome to My World. A Week in the Life of a Substance Abuse Counselor.

Ben Eiland has been in the Chemical Dependency Treatment and Behavioral Health field for over 39 years.

He currently is the Director of Integrated Healing at Alta Mira Recovery Programs and previously the Clinical Director in Sausalito, CA.

He was the Director of Substance Abuse Treatment Services for the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic.
He is the founder and former Co-Director of Integrated Counseling and Consulting Services specializing in domestic violence and substance abuse problems. Eiland has previously held positions as the director of inpatient and outpatient chemical dependency treatment programs that serve both adults and adolescents.

Eiland has been a trainer and consultant in such areas as chemical dependency treatment, co-occurring disorders treatment, domestic and workplace violence, drugs in the workplace, conflict resolution/team building, board development, and cultural/gender diversity.

He has provided training and consulting for such diverse organizations as the American Indian Training Institute, California Rural Indian Health Board, Independent Adoption Center, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Maui Social Services, Hayward Unified School District, the San Francisco Chronicle, the California Departments of Probation and Parole, and the San Francisco Bar Association.

Eiland has taught at a variety of Educational Institutions and is currently an Adjunct Faculty College of San Mateo since 1999. He has also taught at J.F.K. University and U.C. Berkeley Extension addiction certificate program.

Eiland is a founding member of the California Association of Alcohol/Drug Educators (CAADE) and is their past president. He is currently on the California State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs “Continuum of Services System Re-engineering Task Force”. In addition, he served on the National Recovery Month Partnership Committee in Washington DC, sponsored by SAMHSA.

He has held the position of Vice President for the Cross Roads Chapter of E.AP.A. He has also served on the Board of the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors. He was appointed to the Aging Constituent Committee Directors Advisory Council California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (2003-2008) , and is the past president of the California Association for Alcohol/Drug Educators (CAADE).

Michael Huff has been working in helping men, women, and families learn and recover from drug and alcohol use and abuse for more than 30 years. In the late 1980s, Michael worked as an drug educator and treatment advocate to students at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2005, Michael designed and directed a men’s residential treatment program along with providing leadership and oversight of a women’s day treatment, and outpatient services in West Oakland. In 2014, Michael became the Criminal Justice and Substance Use Disorder specialist for Alameda County working in behavioral health. In this role, he worked with the reentry community to help provide substance use disorder services (SUD) services throughout Alameda County. Most recently, Michael has been teaching in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in men’s and women’s prison. He teaches lifers in the Offender Mentor Certification Program (OMCP) how to be substance use disorder counselors to their fellow inmates. In this program, inmates are taught motivational interviewing techniques, understanding criminal thinking processes, and tools of effective therapeutic counseling. 95% of inmates in the OMCP pass the California State certification examination for substance use disorder counselors. Michael has a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University and a Master of Public Administration and Public Policy degree from California State University East Bay. He is also a university lecturer in both criminology and sociology.

Adriana Popescu is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience in the mental health field. She received her MA and Ph.D. from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, a program that takes a holistic approach to the training of psychotherapists, teaching them how to help clients self-actualize and reach their highest human potential. Dr. Popescu is also a certified hypnotherapist, Access Consciousness Facilitator, and Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) Practitioner, having discovered that Energy Psychology provides incredibly powerful tools to identify and eliminate the deep-rooted causes of suffering and distress. She developed her specialty in treating addictions and co-occurring disorders over fourteen years at Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, where she managed the Adult Substance Abuse Program, as Director of Outpatient Services at Marin Services for Women, and Director of Outpatient Services at Alta Mira Recovery Programs. Dr. Popescu is currently in private practice and travels around the world coaching and facilitating classes.

An Oakland, CA native, Ebony Williams has worked extensively with LGBTQQIAA communities, people of color, individuals of low socioeconomic status, at-risk youth, and high-risk sexual offenders. She has a wide range of experiences, including working for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation treating incarcerated male youth offenders. She has also worked internationally in New Zealand as the sole psychologist of a 21-bed inpatient unit where she incorporated NZ Maori practices and culture into the individual behavioral treatment plans of clients who were dually-diagnosed.

Roland Williams is an interventionist, author, trainer, counselor, and consultant specializing in addiction-related issues. He is president and founder of Free Life Enterprises, providing counseling, intervention, and consulting services. He is director of Clinical Operations at DARA Thailand and clinical director at Lionrock Recovery, an online intensive outpatient program. He is a co-founder and former clinical director of Alta Mira Recovery Programs, and Bayside Marin, located in Marin County, CA. He is also a former director of Behavioral Health Services at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, CA.

As president and founder of VIP Recovery Coaching, Williams has worked all over the world providing individualized treatment and program development consultation. He consulted with the first abstinence based treatment center in Amsterdam, Holland. He has worked in Switzerland, Holland, Thailand, Costa Rica, France, Dominican Republic, and Italy, as well as nationwide in the US.

Williams sat on the oral examination board of CAADAC, (California Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors), and is a member of the NAADAC Trainers Academy, providing technical assistance and training nationwide.

He has published three books: Relapse Prevention Counseling for African Americans and Relapse Warning Signs for African Americans (with Terence T. Gorski), as well as the Relapse Prevention Workbook for African Americans.

TJ Woodward is a spiritual author, inspirational speaker, awakening coach and addiction counselor who has helped countless people through his simple, yet powerful teachings. He is the founder and creator of Conscious Recovery and The Conscious Recovery MethodTM.

TJ published his first book, Conscious Being: Awakening to Your True Nature in 2015. His second book, Conscious Recovery: A Fresh Perspective on Addiction was released in December of 2017.

Williams sat on the oral examination board of CAADAC, (California Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors), and is a member of the NAADAC Trainers Academy, providing technical assistance and training nationwide.

TJ is the senior minister and spiritual director of the Agape Bay Area Spiritual Center in Oakland. Agape Bay Area is the first satellite community of the Agape International Spiritual Centerin Los Angeles founded by Michael Bernard Beckwith.