Clinical Advisory Council

Alisa received a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Phillips Graduate Institute. She has a strong passion for the field of psychology and for supporting others on their life path through the power of therapy. She began her work at the California Counseling Center providing therapy to children, adolescents, couples and families. She also served as a child therapist, for the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she conducted both individual and group therapy for students at an elementary through high school level. Her passion for the mental health field began as an undergraduate student at UCSB where she volunteered as a Paraprofessional Counselor, for the Family Service Agency Suicide Crisis Helpline. She also worked as a research assistant at Verdugo Mental Health Clinic. She has had extensive training in Social Skills and Violence Prevention/Anti-Bullying and has run countless social skills groups and parenting workshops. Alisa is enthusiastic about the work that she does at OPI and the opportunity to help young adults on their journey to independence. She believes in the importance of finding joy and balance in life and building a healthy repertoire of skills to manage day-to-day life. When Alisa is not working she is focused on her other passion which is her family. She loves spending time with her husband and two daughters.

David has experience working with families in therapeutic programs since 2001. David has served in many capacities at highly respected residential treatment and wilderness programs as a Primary Therapist, Admissions Director, Clinical Director and Family Services Director.

David earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland and went on to earn a Master of Social Work from the University of South Carolina. After working as a primary therapist for two years, he was awarded his License in Clinical Social Work (LCSW) in 2003 and has continued practicing therapy with students and their families ever since.

David is passionate about helping others and guiding families through their journey of connecting and healing as a system. He believes balancing challenge and support is vital to creating safety and growth for families.

David enjoys talking politics, playing a round of golf, and especially cherishes time with his beautiful wife and three children.

Dr. Brad Riemann, Ph.D. is a Senior Consultant working with a variety of behavioral health companies and academic institutions to develop evidence-based treatment programming, measurement-based care systems, and standardized training protocols. He is collaborating with Embark Behavioral Health as consultant and clinical advisor. As the former President of Philanthropy, Research and Clinical Care at Rogers Behavioral Health, Dr. Riemann also served as Chief Clinical Officer and System Chief Operating Officer where he launched and developed the OCD and Anxiety Service Line with programming at the intensive outpatient, partial hospital, and residential levels of care. He has authored over 120 scientific, peer-reviewed articles on OCD and anxiety, and fifteen treatment manuals. Dr. Riemann has spoken both nationally and internationally on OCD and is a member of the Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board of the International OCD Foundation and the International OCD Accreditation Task Force.

Christy L. Beaudin, PhD LCSW CPHQ is the Vice President of Quality for Embark Behavioral Health in Chandler, AZ. Dr. Beaudin has worked, studied, analyzed, and practiced the art and science of healthcare quality in managed care organizations, health systems, hospitals, and community behavioral health centers for over 25 years. She is a graduate of University of California Los Angeles, San Diego State University and California State University San Bernardino. She’s navigated the many changes in health policy and payment in medical and behavioral health services while meeting regulatory, accreditation and contractual requirements. Dr. Beaudin has conducted qualitative and quantitative evaluation research across the continuum of care on various topics that promote better care, smarter spending, healthier people, and joy in work. Her commitment to translational science is evidenced by authorship of over 90 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, case studies, and reports—most tackling topics on improving whole person health and quality of life. Dr. Beaudin energetically serves as associate editor and panel reviewer for the Journal for Healthcare Quality and is an engineer for the foundational study guide for the certified professional in healthcare quality, HQ Solutions: Resource for the Healthcare Quality Professional, now in its fifth edition. Dr. Beaudin enjoys the benefits of being a coach and mentor to healthcare quality professionals and project teams growing from leadership experience at ValueOptions, Magellan, PacifiCare Behavioral Health, UnitedHealth, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Child & Family Center, and Community Bridges.

Dr. Lori Vallelunga is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than a quarter-century of clinical and program administration experience. She comes to Deschutes Wilderness Therapy with an adventurous spirit and a passion to help others become their best selves. As Clinical Director of the Adolescent Program, Dr. Vallelunga’s skills in team building, staff communication, and support as well as program development and operations will be relied upon. She comes to her clinical approach from a positive psychology/resilience-based mindset with a strong grounding in family systems.

Dr. Vallelunga has held many leadership positions where she developed as an effective change agent. Those include Sr. Vice President, Strategic Development, The Hope Institute for Children and Families, Executive Director, PACE Center for Girls, Pinellas County, Clinical Director, The Psychological Wellness Center, Clinical Director, Central Illinois Center of The Autism Program of Illinois, among others.

Dr. Vallelunga is new to the Northwest and is excited about the adventures that await. She recently relocated from Northeast Florida with her pack of three (well-loved) dogs. She is trying out tiny house living for the first time. Dr. Vallelunga enjoys the outdoors, exploring new places, hiking with her dogs, traveling in her camper van, and photography. She is “artsy” by nature, and her largest project to date is a river flow dining table. In the near future, she plans to own some property for her tiny house and build a large workshop for her hobbies and projects.

Jacob Sparks is the Treatment Director for Embark Behavioral health. He has spent the past decade working with young people in a variety of setting including outpatient and residential therapy settings.

Prior to joining the Embark Quality Team, he served as both a therapist and Clinical Director at Embark Programs.

Jacob brings and expertise in clinical methodologies that drive human connection and healing. He is passionate about Family Systems, as he believes each of us are only as healthy as the relationships that mean the most to us. He continues his work now, by collaborating with Embark programs to instill best practices and supports for programs to utilize as they provide care.

Dr. Myra Irani has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Master’s in Marriage, and Family Therapy (MFT), and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology. She loves working with people and is a collaborative thinker with over 15 years of healthcare and leadership experience. Dr. Irani is action-oriented and is invested in quality services and business development. A Colorado native, who spent much of her career in California, served as a clinician and senior leader in hospitals, residential, outpatient, community mental health, and nursing facilities. Dr. Irani completed an APA accredited residency at the University of Colorado Hospital, Anschutz where she worked in the school of medicine focusing on neuropsychology and integrative healthcare then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Gateways Hospital an inpatient psychiatric facility. Although much of her career has been clinically focused, she has also presented and published research at universities such as Columbia, Boston College, UCLA, University of Colorado at Boulder, and has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver in the Graduate School of Psychology. When not focusing on her career, she spends much of her time with her family or outdoors with her paint horse named Chief, trailing the mountains. Myra Irani is determined to make a footprint on driving positive results and enlightenment in the behavioral health industry.

Brian Rogers has been with Embark since July 2008. He spent his first five years within the organization working in residential treatment in roles from direct-care staff to program director, at our Calo location in Lake Ozark, MO. Towards the end of 2013, he moved into the role of Quality Director and has been in that role since. While in this role Brian has taken the opportunity to further his education receiving a Masters in Counseling in 2016 and has been able to use his education as a way to balance clinical and operational needs. Brian was a key driver in establishing system accreditation with The Joint Commission for the entire Embark organization in the summer of 2021 and continues to lead and direct all accreditation and licensing-related activities. Brian believes that an ethical approach based from core values is the key to establishing and maintaining a quality organization.

Yun Jung Lee, M.A., ATR-BC, LPC is Registered & Board-Certified Art Psychotherapist, Licensed Professional Counselor & Certified adoption therapist.

She graduated from MCP Hanemann University (now Drexel University) with Master’s of Creative Arts in Therapy.  She has over 20 years of clinical experience working with various populations.  Prior to joining Embark, she worked as a Youth Partial Care program director at a community mental health agency in South Jersey.

In her practice she incorporates traditional verbal therapy and various nonverbal methods in treatment to meet each individual’s unique needs and to promote healthy and constructive expression.  She supports individuals struggling with life transitions such as immigration and cultural adjustment, grief and loss, general mental health concerns, depression, anxiety, and trauma issue.  Ms. Lee is also a bi-lingual and bi-cultural therapist (Korean) who is certified in Adoption Therapy to work with members of the adoption triad.

After assisting with the merger of Innerchange and Calo Programs throughout the last year, Dustin Tibbitts, LMFT, the former CEO of Innerchange with 25 years’ experience, will lead this esteemed team as the CEO of Potomac Programs. Dustin is based at Embark’s headquarters in Arizona.

Dr. Nair, completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at AMU in India in June 1983. She came to the United States and completed her Master of Science in Microbiology and Immunology at Ohio State University. She followed that educational phase with an externship in Psychiatry at the MU’s Mental Health Center. She then continued with a 5 year combined residency in General Psychiatry and fellowship in Child Psychiatry at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Dr. Nair has been Board Certified in General Psychiatry for 20 years and in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry for the last 15 years. Doc is a member of many psychiatric associations and stays current on all modalities in her field to help children needing psychiatric help. She left a position as Medical Director for Burrell’s Psychiatric program to join us. She has desired to specialize in a subset of the struggling preteen and teen population, healing the effects of childhood trauma using a relationship paradigm. What better place to do this than Calo? She is where she wants to be…at Calo… advising our psychiatric services while ensuring we utilize the very best practices for our kids and families.

Dr. Sharnell Myles, Psy. D. is a licensed psychotherapist and certified clinical trauma professional who specializes in the treatment of complex trauma. Her dedication to serving children, youth, and adults has spanned over 20-years with a focus on utilizing trauma-informed services to treat a continuum of trauma experiences, including domestic minor sex trafficking and community-based trauma. Dr. Myles is the Executive Director of JoyUs Beginnings Child & Family Wellness Center and The Urban Trauma Positive Impact Center, Inc., an exclusive trauma-informed treatment and advocacy center located in Atlanta, Georgia. Services include trauma informed therapies, trauma assessments, group treatments, gender specific social justice initiatives for girls of color and PeriCare a 2-Gen maternal fetal behavioral health treatment and advocacy initiative. Dr. Myles served as the first Clinical Director for youthSpark, Inc. and was to serve vulnerable youth who experienced exploitation, abuse, and other victimizations within the Fulton County Juvenile Court (FCJC), the largest juvenile court in the southeast region. Throughout her career, Dr. Myles has consulted with systems of care, such as East Cleveland’s MyCom, Inc. and Minnesota’s Robbinsdale Area Schools, to develop trauma-informed systems of care, policy, programming, and training on trauma and equity. In December 2018, Dr. Myles collaborated with Atlanta Public School Board Member Erika Mitchell – District 5 and co-authored the first Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) Protocol for schools in the state of Georgia and has trained hundreds of school social workers on this policy. In addition, she has trained over ten thousand individuals on the impact of trauma DMST which includes Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, corporations, law enforcement, mental health providers, educators, lawyers, governmental officials, community members, and youth.
Dr. Myles has accepted many leadership positions throughout her career. She is the current Advisory Board Chair for the DeKalb County Juvenile Court Mental Health Court – Journey Program, a member of the Georgia Statewide Multi-Disciplinary Team for Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, Board Chair for Breaking the Cycle, Inc (Philadelphia), and was the Vice Chair of the Georgia Statewide Human Trafficking Taskforce Survivors Supported and Protected workgroup. Dr. Myles is a subject matter expert and provides expert testimony in legal cases involving child and adolescent trauma. She has presented at various conferences and has experience in vast settings such as clinical, juvenile justice, Department of Defense, and community-based settings.

Dr. Rob Gent, PhD, LPC is the Chief Clinical Officer and founding members of Embark Behavioral Health. Rob has led the Embark organization in clinical development and growth of numerous programs and is the lead developer of the proprietary CASA Developmental Framework which is pervasive throughout Embark’s programs. Through his dedication to the advancement of clinical development, practice, and research, he has become a nationally recognized expert in the field. His specialization in clinical development is enhanced by his therapeutic expertise and has yielded such accomplishments as the development of; The CASA Developmental Framework, Vive Family Intensive Program, Calo Preteens, Canine Attachment Therapy-Transferable Attachment Program, and other specialized programs. Rob’s dedication has led him to pursue of his Ph.D. in Psychology with an emphasis on development and attachment. He remains passionate about neurological, psychological, and physiological development and continues to focus on the advancement of research and the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions.