Patty Baret

Co-Founder of CiR

Patty Baret, CAI, is a certified ARISE interventionist who has helped hundreds of chemically dependent individuals enter recovery. An advocate for recovering women, and with over three decades of personal recovery herself, Patty has facilitated groups on self-empowerment, relapse prevention and a wide breadth of gender-specific issues. Patty’s expertise in substance use disorders, process addictions, psychiatric decompensation and emotional dysregulation has led to her recognition as an expert in recovery and aftercare support, as well as the highest respect from the international recovery community. Originally from Nice, France, Patty’s international experience (including her years living in Morocco) as well as professional visits to investigate rehabilitation resources worldwide, have provided her the rare ability to align with, and relate to, individuals from virtually any cultural, communal or familial experience.

Lauren Arborio

Co-Founder of CiR

With over 16 years of professional experience as a substance use disorder counselor with UCLA training, Lauren Arborio, CADAC II, has worked with, and received training from, leading specialists in addiction recovery, psychiatry, and pain management. A graduate of New York University, with a BA in International Relations, Lauren is passionate about working with different cultures and and helping others struggling with addiction and co-occurring disorders. Utilizing her vast depth of professional resources in behavioral and mental health, addiction medicine, treatment providers, holistic therapies, alternative healing modalities, and sober living communities, she ensures that each client and family with whom she works with receives a customized recovery plan designed to support optimal outcome success.

Marilee Walker

Executive Assistant & Operations

Marilee Walker is a Director of Operations and seasoned Executive Assistant with a strong background in the mental health and recovery sector. Over the past four years, she has supported both executive operations and acute mental health interventions, providing personalized care while ensuring seamless communication and organizational efficiency in high-pressure environments.
Currently pursuing her Bachelor’s in Psychology with a focus on Behavioral Health, Marilee is dedicated to expanding her expertise and further aligning her professional skills with her passion for wellness and resilience. Known for her attention to detail, collaborative approach, and ability to manage complex priorities, she is a trusted partner to colleagues and leadership alike.

Afrodite Chimarios, AMFT

Associate Marriage and Family Therapist

Afrodite Chimarios, AMFT, is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. She completed her master’s program at Antioch University Los Angeles. She has extensive experience in the behavioral health field including at the detox, residential treatment, IOP, and sober living levels of care. She has also worked extensively as a professional Mental Health and Sober Coach. Afrodite is passionate about working with the mental health and recovery community, she appropriates her experience to guide and motivate clients and families. She believes in an integrative approach that cultivates safety, trust, and autonomy. Her multidisciplinary strategy interlaces Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention, CBT, DBT, Family Systems, and other evidence-based practices to promote healing, foster growth, and partner with individuals as they realize their recovery and therapeutic goals.

Francesca Adair, MA, MFT, LPCC

Francesca Adair has been working as a clinician and administrator in acute mental health and substance use disorder treatment since 2004.

A native New Yorker, Francesca Adair moved to Los Angeles in 1998 with plans to stay one year. Eighteen years later, after building a wonderful career launching and overseeing treatment centers for some of the most reputable programs in the business, she decided to return “home” to find new growth opportunities. Having worked alongside the founders of CIR as they launched their business and became one of the premier coaching companies in the country, she is very excited to partner with them on the east coast to provide clinical oversight and supervision.

Francesca Adair’s work leaves her continually awed by the courage and passion of recovering clients, their families and the providers who facilitate this amazing process.

Dufflyn Lammers,
CRS, CPC, RADT I

Dufflyn Lammers is a Certified Professional Coach with a passion for empowering individuals and families in recovery. She is a Certified Arise Interventionist and a Certified Recovery Specialist. Lammers specializes in codependency and sex and love addiction. In her sixteen years of personal recovery, she has been a regular contributor at TheFix.com, the world’s leading resource for addiction and recovery. She has published essays in the L.A Times, Adelaide, Santa Fe Writers Project, Iowa Woman, and more. She is now at work on a memoir. Lammers has worked with the Los Angeles Police Department and with at-risk youth in schools and community centers to facilitate recovery in traumatized and underserved populations. She presents workshops on resilience, identity and attachment at treatment centers and conferences internationally. Her workshops use improv games and creative writing to teach emotional intelligence, communication skills, and recovery skills through the power of play. Originally from Palo Alto, California, she now lives in Paris.

Lauren Casey, PhD

Dr. Lauren Casey has over 20 years’ experience working with individuals and their families, providing senior case management and international coaching services. She utilizes a strengths-based approach in her work, recognizing the inherent potential, capabilities and resiliency of individuals and their families in order to facilitate recovery and empowerment. Dr. Casey delivers crisis management training at professional organizations worldwide, and she is the recipient of several awards including the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia and the Integrated Mentorship Program in Addictions Research Training (IMPART). She is also a published author and speaker.

Timothy W. Fong MD

Dr. Fong is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. He is board certified in adult and addiction psychiatry.

He is the co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program. The purpose of this program is to examine the clinical characteristics of gambling disorder in order to develop effective, evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies.

Dr. Fong is also a member of the Steering Committee of the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids whose mission is to address the most pressing questions related to the impact of cannabis legalization through rigorous scientific study and discourse across disciplines.

He is the senior attending psychiatrist for the UCLA Sports Psychiatry Service which provides leading edge psychiatric care to athletes, coaches and families.

Lastly, he is the President-Elect of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

Don Grant, Ph.D., MA, MFA, DAC, SUDCC IV

Device Management & Media Technology Addiction Expert

Dr. Grant is an internationally recognized and award-winning media psychologist, author, published researcher, Doctoral Addictions Counselor, and educator with specific expertise in technology’s impact on mental health. He was the 2022 President of the American Psychological Association, Division 46 (The Society for Media Psychology & Technology), currently chairs the APA (Division 46) “Device Management & Intelligence” committee, co-chairs the APA (Division 46) “Strategic Planning” committee, is an APA Advocacy Division Partner Liaison, and serves as Secretary of the California Psychological Association Division VI (Media Technology and Communication). He is also the National Advisor for Healthy Device Management for Newport Healthcare.

He designs, presents, and facilitates “Healthy Device Management” and “Good Digital Citizenship” treatment strategy and educational training workshops for clinicians, educators, parents, and academic communities. He is a globally respected and popular conference keynote speaker, podcast and onscreen interview guest, and print content contributor in the field of device related behaviors, addiction, and media psychology.

Dr. Grant was invited to join the APA Coalition for Psychology in Schools & Education, which was commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control on behalf of the DASH funded APA Safe and Supportive Schools Primers Project to create a series of adolescent psychology focused support manuals for distribution by the CDC to schools, administrators, and educators nationwide. He and his colleagues completed the printed series in late 2022 and audio recordings of each manual to provide optimal access to their content are currently in production.

His current research includes a large-scale study in partnership with the Newport Healthcare Center for Research and Innovation and Drexel University investigating his theories surrounding the potential impact of a caregiver’s device use behaviors on attachment bonds. He is also engaged in explorations of the identity construct effects of social media, parasocial media relationships, and cyberaggression targeted towards adolescents, teens, young adults, families, and our culture/relationships-at-large.

Other current projects include an international publisher commissioned “Healthy Device Management and Practices of Good Digital Citizenship” guidebook and companion curriculum/group process workbook, serving as Section Leader/Co-Editor/Contributing Author for a special Pediatrics “Children and Digital Media” international issue supplement in partnership with Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, and as a chapter author contributor for two media psychology topic focused textbooks