Recovery LIVE Virtual Event

George Braucht, LPC, CPCS & CARES, Chief Mission Officer, BrauchtWorks Consulting, is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Professional Counselor Supervisor with more than 14,000 hours of supervised psychotherapy and applied community psychology experience. His specialty is professional and peer workforce development and program continuous quality and outcome improvement consulting in behavioral health and social justice settings. George co-founded the Certified Addiction Recovery Empowerment Specialist (CARES) Academy, a peer recovery coach training operational in several states. Before retiring from the State of Georgia, he created the Transitional Housing for Offender Reentry Directory and the Reentry Partnership Housing Initiative. He also implemented a statewide recovery counseling program for people on parole using the Partners for Change Outcome Management System and an intensive Enhanced Supervision Program training for correctional officers and reentry staff that incorporated effective practices in community supervision. More recently, he assisted in developing and delivering certification curricula for Recovery Residence Managers and on the Recovery Capital Scale. George is a Level II Certified Trainer with Better Outcomes Now and a charter board member of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences.

Ashley Lewis, CRSW, Criminal Justice Recovery Manager, SOS Recovery Community Organization, is a person in long term recovery. She is a mom of one son, and she has a deep passion for her work. Ashley is a graduate of Strafford County Drug Court and after spending several years struggling within the criminal justice system has made it her focus to serve those within that system. Ashley manages the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program at SOS Recovery Community Organization. LEAD is NH’s first pre-arrest diversion program being operated with Dover and Farmington police departments. Ashley also manages an in-depth peer recovery support program with the Strafford County offices of the NH Department of Corrections, Probation and Parole. She is often found coaching and working alongside individuals in the basement of the Strafford County courthouse. She has built and manages programs to support individuals with Strafford County Corrections, Community Corrections, and Drug Court. Ashley also oversees our 24/7 peer recovery coaching program with Wentworth Douglass Hospital.

Helen “Skip” Skipper, Manager of Peer Services, NYC Criminal Justice Agency, has been working in peer support since her release from incarceration in 2007. In her professional persona, she is the Manager of Peer Services at the New York City Criminal Justice Agency where she is intent on creating space for individuals with lived experiences. She is a Beyond the Bars 20/21 Fellow and Columbia University Justice-in-Education scholar. She maintains a 3.9 GPA at St. Francis College where she is the first post-prison program participant to be invited to join the Honor classes and a Student Representative. Skip is the inaugural Executive Chair of the NYC Peer Workforce Coalition and was the first Peer Supervisor employed by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in her role in the groundbreaking – media acclaimed Friendship Benches NYC. She lives by her mantra: “I’ve been around the block a time or two on my tricycle and use those lived experiences to color my world while assisting, supporting, advocating, and navigating for those still caught up in the oppressive and broken Criminal Justice System!”