PRO.A Staff

Meet the people who run our organization and make it a community of successful recovery.

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in The Recovery Community

Meet William Stauffer, LSW, CCS, CADC

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William Stauffer has been the Executive Director of Pennsylvania Recovery Organization Alliance (PRO●A), the statewide recovery organization of Pennsylvania since 2012. He is in long-term recovery since age 21 and has been actively engaged in public policy in the recovery arena for most of those years. Mr. Stauffer is a graduate of Northampton Community College, Cedar Crest College, and Kutztown University. He is also an adjunct professor of Social Work at Misericordia University in Dallas Pennsylvania. Mr. Stauffer has over 25 years of clinical and administrative experience in both inpatient and outpatient settings. He served as the Program Director of the Halfway Home of the Lehigh Valley from 1999 to 2012. Mr. Stauffer is the former President of the Pennsylvania Halfway House Association, serving in that capacity from 2002 to 2007. Mr. Stauffer has been a staunch advocate for strong SUD Patient Privacy Protections at both the state and federal levels for many years. He ran a recovery house taskforce for Pennsylvania that helped inform PA Act 59 of 2017. In 2018, he testified in front of the US Senate Special Committee on Aging on the opioid epidemic and older adults, and in 2019, he conducted a hearing with the PA House Human Services Committee to expand recovery opportunities for young people. William Stauffer has initiated numerous workforce expansion initiatives for persons in recovery. A major focus of his work has been aimed at moving our entire SUD care system towards a five-year care paradigm to dramatically expand the numbers of Americans in Recovery while saving lives, resources, and communities. He is co-chair of the public policy committee for Faces & Voices of Recovery and the 2019 recipient of the Vernon Johnson Award Individual Recovery Advocate of the year. Mr. Stauffer was also the 2002 Recipient of the Lecie G. Machell prize in Social Work and, prior to taking the position of executive director of PRO•A, received the Pennsylvania Recovery Organization Alliances award of the Recovery Advocate of the year, in 2008.

Meet Patricia Baranowksi, MA, CADC

Patricia G. Baranowski, MA, CADC, has been working in the field of addictions since 1989. Her prior experience includes Education and Prevention, Individual and Group Therapy, Case management, and Admissions and Aftercare Coordination, in both residential and outpatient treatment. Patti received her Bachelor of Science Degree, Summa Cum Laude, from Albright College, and went on to graduate with high honors from Liberty University with a Masters Degree in Human Services, with a Health and Wellness cognate.

Patti has worked in different capacities for the PRO-A for the past five years and has now accepted the position of Workforce Support Project Manager. She has been instrumental in developing and implementing specialized employment programs for individuals with Substance Use Disorder and Co-Occurring Disorders to support the Workforce Support Project. She continues to work to expanding statewide workforce trainings and technical assistance, assisting with advocacy and public awareness throughout the Commonwealth.

Ms. Baranowski is proud to have served in the US Army Reserves as a Medic and Administrative Assistant, where she received many honors during her service. She has extensive professional and personal knowledge of addiction and its impact on the family and has a passion for advocating for those affected by the disease. Having worked in many capacities in the field of substance use disorder treatment, Patti joins us with years of experience from many perspectives. Currently, she continues her counseling passion on a part time basis.

Since becoming part of the PRO•A team, Patti has worked alongside the current staff in support of the Recovery Works Summits, assisting in coordinating the conferences, and conducting Town Hall Meetings across the state, along with PMHCA, in advocating, educating, and bringing together those who continue to be negatively affected by the stigma of substance and alcohol use conditions. She has also worked in developing a new training curriculum and managing the Recovery Institute Training Program (RITP). Patti will also be facilitating trainings for our RITP. Patti believes that relationships are the foundational catalysts of change. She hopes to continue her work in support of those still suffering, and remains inspired by the courage, resilience, and hope of those she works with on a daily basis. One of her favorite quotes:

“Change is the essence of life; be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.” Reinhold Niebuhr

Meet Nikki Weir, AAS, CRS

Nikki is a Recovery Employment Coordinator with PRO-A. She will be covering Dauphin and surrounding counties for the Workforce Support Project. She is in long-term recovery for over 14 years. Nikki received her Associate Degree in Human Services in December 2022 from Harrisburg Area Community College.

Nikki has been in the Substance Use field since 2017.

She gained experience in the outpatient and prison settings initially. She ran treatment groups, completing assessments, individual counseling sessions, aftercare planning, and case management. She was also involved in networking and establishing Recovery and Reentry Support Services.

Nikki stays actively involved with 12 Step Recovery and started a meeting named The Best Is Yet To Come. She likes working out at the gym, spending time with her family, her puppy Myla, and riding her Harley.

Meet Cassandra Ellen Joy Drumheiser

Cassandra considers herself a late bloomer in the area of recovery. After coming close to losing her life to Anorexia on May 7, 2013, she was admitted to the dual diagnosis facility, Rosewood Center for Eating Disorders in Wickenburg, Arizona on May 15, 2013. During her 3 months there she came to admit that she was powerless over alcohol and drugs as well. She’s indebted to her Rosewood Treatment Team and likes to say that, “she found life in the desert.”

Cassandra has been an active member of the recovery community and has worked in the field of recovery for over 11 years as an Admission Associate as well as with the Breakthrough Program at the Caron Foundation; Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS) for the Warm Handoff Program at the Reading Hospital emergency department; CRS at The Rise Center in downtown Reading. In 2019 she founded the Joy@ 2:20 Recovery Group at her church which is open to all individuals regardless of beliefs. As a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the meeting has been on hiatus and will resume meeting in person in March 2021.

Cassandra was born in Pecos, Texas but grew up in Colorado where her father fostered a love for the outdoors and National Parks for which she is dedicated to helping preserve. She loves painting, hiking, biking, nature walks, gardening, watching Oscar-caliber films, serves on her church’s Ministry Council as Worship Leader, and is known as a “Master Seinfeldian.” She’s also a Civil War buff who has visited eighty-five percent of US Civil War Battlefields. Cassandra has been an active volunteer since 1981 when she began volunteering at the University of Tyler Health Center in Tyler, Texas where her Mom was employed. During the course of her recovery, when needed, she executes personal and family interventions. Cassandra is also active in a 12-step program where she sponsors and mentors women seeking the gift of sobriety. As a woman of strong faith, Cassandra believes the point of life is love and that love prevails above all.

She is a wife, friend, and life partner to Glenn Drumheiser, mother and friend to her son, Ryan who is a musician and resides in NYC, and daughter Chloe who resides in West Reading. She is Noni to Adelle, and Puppy Mom to Pili Chisoni a feisty 5-pound ChiShi. Cassandra is honored to be a part of the Workforce Force Support Program team and is looking forward to the positive impact it will have on our communities.

Meet Tom Rice, CRS

Hi, my name is Tom Rice, I am a Certified Recovery Specialist and have been actively involved in the recovery field for eight years. On July 1,2023 I celebrated eight years of continuous recovery. My journey through recovery has taken me down many paths in life, including serving over twenty-six and a half years of incarceration for crimes directly related to my SUD’s. I was one of the sufferers that felt totally broken and believed I could never change, that my life was a waste, and that I was destined to die either by overdose or in incarceration. Through a series of circumstances that I can only attribute to divine intervention, I was introduced to CBT therapy, which changed the course of my life. Not only did I embrace it wholeheartedly, I became a Peer Facilitator within the Department of Corrections and went on to help many other individuals like me. Upon release, I discovered a passion for helping others and became a CRS. I was employed with PA Counseling Services for over two years. Today my passion is helping others that are reintegrating into society. I feel my position in the Workforce Support Project here at PRO-A gives me a platform to make a difference. I once believed my life was one of waste and now, I see it as one with profound value and purpose.

Meet Dale Heffline

My name is Dale Heffline, I will be joining PRO-A as a Recovery Employment Coordinator in Luzerne and Schuylkill counties. I am a person who has been in long term recovery for 31 plus years. I have a background education in Theology and Psychology. I am a native of the Philadelphia area and an avid sports fan. I am a lover of food and dogs (I have two border collies, Nutmeg and Saffron).

I have had two major careers, one as an Executive Chef and the other as a Finance Manager for an automobile dealer. This first of which carried a long bout with addiction/alcoholism and the second which began in addiction (first two months) and ended with a sober record. During my substance use I had several encounters with the law, was homeless for a short time and at the end was facing some serious court issues.

I am an advocate of recovery and a public speaker for recovery and a liaison for people seeking recovery, jobs, or anything attached to the 8 domains of wellness. I’m an advocate of progress, not perfection and a promoter of partnering with resources available to help an individual sustain a productive and sober lifestyle.

I believe that there is a Spiritual component that needs to be applied to the recovery process. Whether by the Church or basic belief in a power greater than ourselves, through nature or overall awareness that there is SOMETHING bigger to believe in and turn too, in order to conquer each day without a pill, fix, joint or drink.

In 1998 my son died at 25 from a heroin overdose. I live this every day and share my story every time and place I can. It is what helps me and in turn helps others. It is personal, pervasive, pertinent, and powerful. Though painful it is crucial to be honest and share my story with others to help save lives. I believe in “giving it away to keep it” one of the four paradoxes of recovery.

I am currently a Certified Recovery Specialist, Certified Family Recovery Specialist, Certified Youthful Offender Instructor for DUI/DRUG Countermeasures and a Certified Smoking Cessation Instructor (American Lung Association).

Meet Courtney Kole, MS, CRS

Courtney is the Recovery Employment Coordinator for Northampton and Lehigh counties under Pro-A’s Workforce Support Program. Having received her CRS certificate, she has been working in the SUD/AUD treatment field for a few years now. She is on the Board of Directors for Northbound & Co and a fundraising committee member for the SYNC Recovery Community. In addition to being a Certified Recovery Specialist, she has worked as an Intake Coordinator for Brookdale Recovery Center and with Treatment Trends as a Recovery Court CRS and a Utilization Review Coordinator.

Courtney has a public relations and project management background and these skills will lend well to her REC role. Her passion is to give others hope and to help participants think outside-the-box for their own recovery journey. She has held several life skills groups at Keenan House to include resume writing, mock interviews, time management and budgeting. She enjoys spending time in the Lehigh Valley and New Jersey with her two children and dog, Rocky, and her supportive fellowship friends.