Clinical Staff
PDF
Jesse Quam - MSW, LCSW
Jesse Quam is the Clinical Director for SUWS of the Carolinas. Before earning his Masters of Clinical Social Work from Boston College (May, 2005), Jesse worked for Aspen Achievement Academy, a therapeutic wilderness program in Utah. There, he worked as a Field Staff, Reunion Coordinator (facilitating the three day reunion with families for students graduating form the program), and Field Director. After a year hiatus, Jesse returned to wilderness therapy to work as a senior field staff at Passages to Recovery, a spirtually based 12-step recovery program in Southern Utah. While in graduate school, Jesse worked at The Walker Home and School, a residential home and school serving emotionally disturbed children and their families as a residential counselor and individual therapist. He also provided group and individual therapy to homeless veterans with substance abuse issues at the Brockton Veteran's Administration. Jesse is particularly interested in family systems, attachment theory and spirituality. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, reading, hiking, grilling out, and fruitlessly hoping that the Minnesota Vikings will win the Super Bowl.
Brooke Judkins, Ph.D
Family Program Manager
Brooke manages the clinical family services at SUWS of the Carolinas. She moderates the online parent message boards, leads the Trail’s End parent meeting, and facilitates parent workshops. Brooke is excited to be part of the expansion of family services at SUWS of the Carolinas. Trained using a “systems” perspective, Brooke believes that the most long-lasting and successful treatment outcomes occur when both parents and children make effective changes in how they relate to each other. Brooke completed her doctorate in Child & Family Studies in 2004 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she also obtained a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling. She was introduced to wilderness in 2007 as a field supervisor working with adolescent girls at SUWS of the Carolinas. Prior to wilderness Brooke was a professor of Child & Family Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she taught courses on child & adolescent development and family relations. Her experience has also involved therapy with individuals, couples, and families in psychiatric and private practice settings. In her free time, Brooke enjoys contradancing, gardening, and making tile mosaics.
Jon Stang - MS, LCSW
Prior to his role of Field Supervisor/Therapist at SUWS of the Carolinas, Jonathan Stang, "Jon", attended graduate school and worked in a variety of educational and mental health settings in New York City. While earning his M.S. in Clinical Social Work from Columbia University, Jon conducted group and individual therapy at a drug treatment center in Harlem, delivered individual counseling to adolescents and adults living with HIV/AIDS and taught "Alternatives to Violence" curriculum throughout Brooklyn's public high schools. In collaboration with a professor of clinical psychiatry, Jon developed a private therapeutic recreation practice for families with at-risk children.
Brandon Moffitt - MA, LPC
Prior to joining SUWS of the Carolinas, Brandon worked almost 4 years in two different residential settings addressing a variety of issues with adolescents and their families. He earned his Masters degree in Community Counseling from Denver Seminary in May, 2005 and is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor. He brings a variety of experience to his work including traditional approaches woven together with group process and experiential learning. This approach is influenced by time spent teaching, guiding whitewater expeditions, mentoring underprivileged youth, and working as an intern in a group home for boys. During his spare time he enjoys hiking and relaxing with his wife and son, exploring new places in the woods and on water, reading, and practicing the craft of fly tying and fly fishing.
Terri Chester - MA, NCC
Terri Chester is a Nationally Certified Counselor through the National Board of Certified Counselors and is currently working towards her Professional Counseling License in the state of North Carolina. She earned an advanced certificate of graduate studies in Expressive Arts Therapy at an international school in Switzerland called the European Graduate School. One of her specialty interests is the use of expressive arts in natural settings (land art/ eco-therapy) and the therapeutic value of spending time in nature. She has been working with children and families for nineteen years in a variety of settings including public schools, mental health, community college and university, and private practice.
Kelly Moore - MS, NCC, LPC, ATR
Kelly is a National Certified Counselor with a Master’s Degree in Art Therapy from Florida State University. Before working as a Field Supervisor, Kelly worked at SUWS of the Carolinas as a Field Instructor. She believes that a combination of expressive and verbal therapies, utilized in a wilderness setting, can be very beneficial. While in graduate school, Kelly worked with at-risk children and adolescents both in schools and in an intensive outpatient program. After graduate school, she worked at a hospice in Florida, leading both individual and group grief counseling sessions. Kelly has traveled to Thailand and the Galapagos Islands to practice art therapy with local at-risk children, and while these experiences presented her with the challenge of language barriers, Kelly discovered that art therapy is a great catalyst in assisting individuals to express their emotions.
Lynn Wadsworth - LPC
Lynn is a Licensed Professional Counselor and has worked with adolescents and families for over 15 years. Her background includes working in Juvenile Correction Settings, Substance Abuse Treatment and prevention, Therapeutic Boarding Schools, Inpatient Hospitalization, HIV/AIDS counseling, and private practice. She completes a minimum of 20 hours of continuing education yearly to maintain my licensure and certification. She is committed to using the wide variety of her skills to contribute to every child's SUWS experience. Lynn's clinical interests include; family systems work, substance abuse, anxiety oppositional behavior, anger, motivational deficits, and grief work.
Marie Davis, MA
Marie O. Davis holds a master's in Community Counseling, a post-graduate certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy, and is an LPC-A, pursuing full licensure in NC. She has been counseling people for the last 10 years. She began her career path as a nutritional counselor, establishing and running her own consulting business for 5+ years. During those years, she became intimately aware of the relationship between the body and the mind and the relationship between physical health and mental health. To better service her client's emotional needs, Marie to pursue her master's degree in counseling, which she received from Appalachian State University. Prior to graduate school Marie worked with children ages 8-16 counseling them using art therapy in hospitals and in schools. She has particular interest in trauma, mind/body medicine, holistic health, addiction recovery, authentic relationships, healthy human development, and expressive art therapy
Amber Kilkenny, LCSW
Amber Kilkenny is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the North Carolina Board of Social Work Examiners. She began her wilderness therapy career in 2002 as a field instructor at SUWS of the Carolinas. Her love for the outdoors led her into the wilderness therapy industry but the positive changes she saw in the individuals she worked with motivated her to pursue a graduate degree in Clinical Social Work. Amber has worked in wilderness therapy programs for over ten years. Amber specializes in working with "Tweener" girls and had the unique opportunity to start one of the first "Tweener" girls wilderness groups in the country with SUWS of the Carolinas. Amber has extensive experience in diagnostic evaluation, creative treatment planning, intensive family therapy and successful work with resistant clients. Amber's areas of clinical interest are Trauma, Learning Disorders, Attachment Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Major Depressive Disorders, Eating Disorders, Behavioral Issues, and Serious Social Skills Impairments. Amber uses an eclectic therapeutic approach that strives to meet each individual where they are and assist them in reaching goals of what they hope for. Most predominate modalities used are CBT, EMDR, DBT, psycho education, behavioral and family systems.
Chris de Beer, MA
I have worked in youth education for over eight years, the last six of which was in a therapeutic residential boarding school for boys with oppositional behavior and learning disabilities. My time there inspired me to continue my education as a way to further my clinical abilities, and I graduated with my Master of Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May, 2010. During my graduate studies, I completed internships at the psychiatric in-patient unit of the local Veterans' Affairs Hospital, and the adolescent psychiatric unit of the regional hospital. In my professional and educational experiences I have consistently found the most success resolving clinical issues through addressing not only individual problems, but also the broader environment in which they exist: peer groups, class rooms, families, neighborhoods, and other social systems.