Chris is a certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist (PRSS), a Recovery Support Peer Specialist (RSPS; Medicaid Billable), a certified Trainer of Peers (TOC), a qualified peer supervisor (QPS), and a certified trainer of Qualified Peer Supervisors. Chris also trained in Motivational Interviewing skills and is currently being trained as a trainer of MI by the Latino Health Disparities Research Center at the University of Texas at El Paso on behalf of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers.
Chris began working as a volunteer at the Recovery Alliance of El Paso, moving into a leadership role, helping to develop an integrated peer- based recovery support program in collaboration with Project Vida, a Federally Qualified Health Center that serves El Paso County. In this role, he assisted in developing what has become a nationally renowned Peer Recovery Support program embedded in a healthcare clinic.
Chris is now the Project Coordinator for Project Vida, providing outreach and the long-term recovery support and services in English and Spanish to homeless individuals in the El Paso area. He works as part of an integrated health care team with physicians, counselors, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners.
In addition to these professional responsibilities, he serves as a co-convener of the Paso del Norte Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC), a creative collaboration of substance use providers and stake holders in the El Paso area. He is also are presentative for Region 10 at the Texas Recovery Action Work Group (TRAW), a committee formed by a collaboration of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (TX HHSC) and the Texas Recovery Initiative (TRI). In this capacity,Chris works on the standardization of PRSS in Texas, consulting on guidelines for service delivery, tracking mechanisms, outreach, training and training materials. As a result of this work, Chris serves as one of four chair-people of a committee tasked with developing a curriculum to train peer supervisors
Bobby Bowling IV is a 3rd generation homebuilder in El Paso. A graduate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 with a BBA in Real Estate and Urban Land Development, Bobby immediately went to work at the family business, Tropicana Homes, where he had worked summers since the age of 16 on homes under construction.
In 1998, Bobby and his brother Randy, established Patriot Mortgage Company in the El Paso area. Today Patriot Mortgage is the second-largest originator of new home mortgages in the El Paso area and is an FHA-endorsed lender with in-house underwriting.
In 1999, Bobby ventured into the tax credit world with a new family company, Tropicana Building Corporation. In 2001 Tropicana was awarded its first tax credit deals from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA)—3 small deals comprised of 72 total apartment units. Since that first award, Tropicana has been awarded 35 separate 9% tax credit developments totaling over 3,000 units. Bobby and his brother Randy as well as their third partner, Demetrio Jimenez, also started and run an apartment management company to manage all of their units.
Bobby gives generously to local area charities in the El Paso area and is an active corporate citizen in his hometown, working hard for causes to help low-income families and people struggling with addiction in the area. Bobby is a Past President of the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers (TAAHP) and Past President of the Texas Association of Builders (TAB) and the El Paso Association of Builders (EPAB). Bobby has a passion for golf as his main hobby and is currently the Immediate Past President of Coronado Golf and Country Club, nestled into the mountains of the west side of El Paso.
Greg Hansch has served as Executive Director of NAMI Texas since 2019. He originally joined NAMI Texas in 2012 and previously served as Public Policy Director. He is a Licensed Masters-Level Social Worker and a family member of a person with serious mental illness.
He holds a Master’s degree in Social Work with a concentration in Nonprofit and Public Management from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland. Greg is a NAMI SMARTS for Advocacy State Trainer. He has extensive experience in nonprofit management, mental health policy, event planning, and fundraising. He has been active in advocacy in the State of Texas since 2012/2013, when he served as the Hogg Foundation Policy Fellow for NAMI Texas.
Dr. Laurel Mangrum is a research scientist with the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texasin Austin. She works primarily with the Addiction Research Institute and the South by Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center.
She has extensive experience evaluating federally funded projects, including SAMSHA, CMS, BJA, and HRSA grants in the states of Texas and Louisiana. She have also worked closely with the Single State Authorities in Texas and Louisiana to evaluate local pilot projects, including Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) and other recovery initiatives. In particular, Dr. Mangrum has provided evaluation services for numerous SAMHSA grants, including COSIG, SBIRT, ATR, RCP, ROSC, BCOR, RCSP and Drug Court Treatment grants.
She also has clinical practice experience in both mental health and addiction treatment settings - practical experience which aids her in designing studies that are applicable to real life settings. Dr. Mangrum works closely with the University of Texas Addiction Research Institute (ARI), which has a long history of research and evaluation of recovery processes and recovery-oriented systems of care. ARI has partnered with academic institutions, state and local governments, and recovery community organizations in an effort to build the infrastructure of recovery support services and to examine the outcomes of individuals receiving these services.
In addition, in 2007 Dr. Mangrum was invited as a speaker at the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives on ATR evaluation findings related to recovery support services. She was also an invited participant at the SAMHSA Recovery Research and Evaluation Technical Assistance Expert Panel held in 2018. She has published many papers, too numerous to list, on substance use treatment, psychiatric disorders, integrated care, recovery and evaluation.
Stephenie Nunn, LCSW-S, PRSS, provides outpatient counseling services and treatment for behavioral health and substance use disorders for individuals and couples at Lotus Counseling and Recovery Center, as well as at the Amarillo Veterans Administration Mental Health Center. She is a certified peer recovery support specialist and RSPS trainer with Recovery People. As a person in recovery for over 14 years from substance and alcohol use disorder, she is passionate about recovery advocacy and providing evidence- based, quality services for individuals and families on their recovery path to healing and transformation.
In 2013, she received her Bachelors’ degree in Social Work from the University of North Texas, with a minor in Addiction and Recovery. She attended University of Texas in Austin and received a Master's degree of Science in Clinical Social Work in 2015, while completing an internship at Communities for Recovery. She is a certifiedKundalini and Yoga Nidra teacher and teaches yoga with a focus on recovery from substance use and mental health issues. She is active in providing recovery support in her community.
Originally from El Paso, Joseph first began working in the recovery field after joining the Continuation and Development Team of the same non-profit organization that assisted him in his own early recovery, the Recovery Alliance of El Paso. He celebrates the commencement of his recovery on October 2, 2005. As a distinguished graduate of the 2009 Leadership Institute for Recovery Support Service Emerging Leaders, Joseph exhibits considerable talent both as a mentor for his peers and as a skilled facilitator and trainer for others providing peer-based services.
He has worked as a recovery coach since 2006 and has found his passion in facilitating recovery-based solutions; Joseph began training other recovery coaches and developing curriculum. He has helped to train organizations and individuals from Las Vegas, Colorado, Dallas, Corpus Christi, Houston, Austin and many other cities providing recovery support services in the State of Texas. With the skill sets that he has learned from successfully completing the 2009 ATTC Leadership Institute as well as the 2011 Addressing Health Disparities Leadership Program of the National Council for Community Behavioral Health, Joseph helps others rise to any challenge and achieve their dreams and potentials, be it organizationally or personally.
In addition to his work within the recovery community, Joseph is committed to reaching out to the LGBT community in an effort to help eliminate homophobia and heterosexism. His courage lending a positive face and voice for individuals living with HIV & AIDS, Joseph has tested HIV positive since 2003. He appeared in the 2009 December/January issue of Instinct magazine briefly sharing his experience and strength with readers across the nation. A passionate and positive advocate for recovery, Joseph’s personal mission statement is, “To Inspire Positive Thinking and Forward Movement through Motivation, Education and Empowerment.”
In 2012 he cofounded a Recovery Community Organization in Austin, Texas. This organization was directly inspired by the organization that “saved his life”; Recovery ATX is the resource for diverse and quality recovery support services in Central Texas. Their mission is to strengthen the recovery community by providing educational opportunities and support services. Their goal is to unify the recovery community by using the spirit of collaboration as their guide. Joseph has encouraged the recovery community to step into roles of leadership by developing, implementing and facilitating recovery programming to the community.
He is a social matter expert providing technical assistance through SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) and Opioid Response Network (ORN) as well as assisting in helping to create statewide and national standards around Peer Recovery Support Services. He is currently the Director of Programs with Faces & Voices of Recovery where he supports a talented team in forwarding the nations recovery movement through training and advocacy.
Dorothy wears many hats in the Houston recovery community. She serves as Program Director at the Houston Center for Wellness and Recovery Resources, supervising and developing programs, training staff, and providing recovery Support Training for adolescents and transitional age youth. She is also the Peer Recovery Support Specialist Supervisor/LCDC at the Houston Recovery Center, (Sobering Center). In addition, she is the Program Director for the Peer Recovery Residence for Women and Men, overseeing daily operations, providing recovery supports and services, and creating a safe place for women and men to recovery from substance use and mental health issues. She has been in long term recovery since 1996 and has worked in the recovery field for over ten years.
She participated in the development of recovery support services in two City of Houston multi-purpose centers. She supervises recovery coaches around Houston for different organizations to help keep the fidelity of the recovery coach and to help refine their skills once they have completed theTraining. In 2011, she established two peer recovery homes for women and two for men. She is a Trauma Informed Care Trainer of Trainers, a Crisis Prevention Institute trainer, and a DWI and TDOEP Educator for the State of Texas. She believes in giving back what was so freely been given to her - another chance at life.