Clinical Care
The clinical care at Ashley is recognized for excellence in the addiction treatment field. All counselors are certified addiction specialists, and many are certified in relapse prevention treatment. Ashley is a pioneer in the addiction treatment field for relapse counseling and treatment. Many of the counselors in the clinical program have multiple specialties and certifications to better serve the varied needs of our patients in treatment.
Each patient is assigned to a counselor based on matching individual needs to the counselor’s areas of expertise. A patient’s counselor will remain constant throughout their inpatient treatment, for both group and individual therapy. Every weekday, two-hour group therapy sessions are led by certified counselors.
All Ashley counselors are trained to detect signs and symptoms of co-occurring disorders, such as depression and anxiety, which are often found in alcoholics and drug addicts. When these types of issues are suspected, either due to patients showing symptoms or verbalizing related feelings, the counselor will then administer Beck depression and anxiety inventories. The Beck inventories are widely accepted assessment tools used to determine the extent of depression and anxiety for a patient. When appropriate, patients are referred to our on-site psychiatrist, psychologist or physicians.
Clinical Staff
George Plesniak
Clinical Program Director
George joined Ashley in 1997, serving as a relapse addiction counselor and then as director of utilization review. He has CAC-AD and ACRPS certifications, in addition to his M.S. in business and industry counseling.
Peter Musser, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Musser comes to Ashley with over 12 years experience of combined private therapy, teaching and psychological research. He holds a Ph.D. in human services psychology and an M.A. in general psychology with an emphasis in research methods. Dr. Musser is a member of the American Psychological Association, Maryland Psychological Association, American Counseling Association and the former Co-Chair of the Maryland Abuser Intervention Collaborative.
Wendy Insalaco
Clinical Supervisor
Wendy holds an M.S. in clinical psychology and a B.S. in psychology. With over ten years experience in the field of addiction treatment, she holds CAC and CCDP certifications.
Barbara Aston
Counselor, Relapse Program
Barbara
has NCC, ACRPS, LCPC and MAC certifications, with a B.A. in psychology
and two M.S. degrees - community counseling and nutrition. She has been
at Ashley since 2002.
Vera Batey
Counselor
Vera joined Ashley in 2010, and holds a CAC-AD and is a Master prepared Human Service Specialist. In addition, she is certified as a Professional Counselor through the APA. She is in the process of completing her Ph.D. (A.B.D.) in Health and Human Services, specializing in counseling older adults with substance use disorders.
David Brumbaugh
Counselor
David joined Ashley in 2010 and has experience as an outpatient drug and alcohol counselor. He has a D.Min., M.Div., a B.A., and is also a certified drug and alcohol counselor.
Brett DeMille
Continuing Care Counselor
Brett joined the Continuing Care team in 2012, prior to that he worked in Admissions for ten years. He has a B.S. in sociology and is currently enrolled at Widener University School of Law.
David DeWitt
DWI Outpatient Treatment Coordinator
David joined Ashley in 2010, and is primarily responsible for the DWI outpatient program. He holds a B.S. in psychology with a concentration in behavioral neuroscience.
Cathy Drennan
Counselor
Chris joined Ashley in 2011, and has over 20 years of experience in the
field of addiction. She holds an MSW and a LCSW-C certification.
Al Grice
Counselor, Relapse Program
Al Grice, U.S. Navy (Ret.), brings over 20 years' experience to the role, as well as being ACRPS and CSC-AD certified. He leads the the therapeutic drumming program at Ashley, teaching spiritual drumming to patients.
Dorothea Grice
Counselor
Dorothea has worked part-time at Ashley since 2008 and joined the counseling team full-time in 2010. She brings over 10 years' experience to the role, as well as being ACRPS and CSC-AD certified and a Licensed Addiction Counselor. She has a B.S. and two A.A. degrees.
Kristine Hitchens, Ph.D.
Director of Family Services
Dr.
Hitchens has been at Ashley since 1998, and Director of Family Services
since 2006. She holds a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College, Graduate School
of Social Work and Social Research,
a master’s degree in social work from Widener University
and a B.A. in psychology from Wesley College. Her licenses are LCSW-C and LCADC, with a CCDC certification.
Amanda Jeromin
Counselor, Relapse Program
Amanda joined the Clinical Care team in 2010 following a year long
internship here at Ashley. She holds an M.S. in psychology with a
clinical concentration, and a B.S. in psychology.
Christopher Kerr
Counselor, Primary Counselor
Chris joined Ashley in 2010, and has over 16 years of experience in the field of addiction. He has a CAC-AD certification along with a B.A. in sociology.
Sheila Matricciani
Continuing Care Manager
Since 1995, Sheila has been counseling patients at Ashley. With 28 years' experience, she has CAC-AD and ACRPS certifications.
Sheila McDermott
Counselor, Relapse/Transitional and DWI Programs
Sheila has CAC-AD and CCDC certifications and an M.S. in counseling. She has been at Ashley since 2003, with over 10 years in the field.
Tracey Nelson
Administrator of Family Services
Tracey works with the Ashley Family Wellness Program and Rainbow of Hope Children’s Program. Joining the staff in 2009, she brings with her many years of experience in family and children’s drug and alcohol education in addition to her B.S. from Towson and MBA from Loyola college. She also volunteers as a a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children.
Alice O'Brien
Counselor
Alice joined Ashley in 2010 and holds NCC and LPCMH certifications. She has an M.S. in pastoral care and counseling, and a B.A.
Jim Siegle
Counselor, Primary Program
Jim came to Ashley in 1997 after completing his B.A. and M.A. programs. With over 20 years in the field, he also has a LCADC license and CCDC certification.
Jeremiah Venuti
Continuing Care Counselor
Jeremiah joined the Continuing Care team in 2011, prior to that he worked
as a patient services assistant at Ashley. He is in the process of completing his B.S. in psychology
John Wanner
Counselor, Primary Program
John has both a B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering, an MBA, and an M.A. in counseling psychology. He is an army veteran and was discharged as a captain in 1972. With an LCADC license, John has been at Ashley since 2000.
Joseph Weker
Counselor, Relapse Program
Joseph holds an M.S. in clinical counseling and a B.A. in psychology.
With over 15 years experience in the field, he
holds a CAC-AD certification.
Jerry Zamostny
Counselor
Jerry has been with Ashley since 1993. He has CSC-AD, CFC and CFAE
certifications.
Key:
ACRPS- Advanced Certified Relapse Prevention Specialist (Gorski training)
CAC-AD- Certified Associate Counselor Alcohol Drug (Maryland)
CCDC- Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor
CCDP- Certified Co-occuring Disorders Professional
CFAE- Certified Forensic Addiction Counselor
CFC- Certified Forensic Counselor
CRAT- Certified Rational Addiction Therapist
CSC-AD- Certified Supervised Counselor Alcohol Drug (Maryland)
LCADC- Licensed Clinical Alcohol Drug Counselor
LCPC- Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
LCSW-C- Licensed Certified Social Worker- Clinical
LGPC- Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor
LPCMH - Licensed Professional Counselor of Mental Health
MAC- Master Addiction Counselor
NCC- National Certified Counselor
A.A.- Associate degree
B.A.- Bachelor of the Arts degree
B.S.- Bachelor of Science degree
D.Min.- Doctor of Ministry
M.A.- Master of the Arts degree
M.Div.- Master of Divinity
M.S.- Master of Science degree
M.D.- Medical Doctorate degree
Ph.D.- Doctorate degree
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