Board of Directors
Carissa McNamara
Chairman
BX Ranches, Payson, Utah
Carissa graduated with a Masters Degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management from The George Washington University. While in Washington, D.C., she worked for The George Washington Law School Office of Advancement. She also worked and interned on several projects for The George Washington University including, how technology addresses Homeland Security, as well as the impact of the implementation of legislation related to No Child Left Behind. Upon her return to Utah, she took the position of Program Director for a residential treatment facility for women and children with substance abuse issues. She eventually left the treatment communication for an Executive position with the Mayor's office.
Carissa has 14 years of solid horse experience in the Quarter Horse industry, and her continued commitment to horses and alternative treatments for PTSD brought her to EAGALA. Carissa currently resides in Utah where she and her husband breed, raise, and show cutting horses. Horses that can no longer compete are used in EAP.
Lisa Gatti
Vice-Chair
Pal-O-Mine Equestrian, Islandia, New York
Lisa Gatti grew up on Long Island, attended Mary Washington College in Virginia and St. Joseph’s College in NY, where she was granted a BS degree with dual certification in elementary and special education and a minor in psychology. Lisa received an additional Associates Degree in Regional Stewardship and has supplemented her education with several certificate programs in grant writing, non- profit management, sign language and applied behavioral analysis. As a teacher, Lisa gravitated towards “at-risk” teens and found, during her time teaching, that experiential learning was most effective for her populations. She founded Pal-O-Mine Equestrian in 1995, which is a comprehensive multi-faceted not for profit equine program that includes hippotherapy, therapeutic and competitive equestrian riding, a transitional work-study program and EAGALA model EAP and EAL programs.
Lisa was chosen as the US Team Leader for the Equestrian in the 1996 and 2000 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Ga. and Sydney, Australia. She served as the National Sports Technical Officer for Equestrian under the auspices of the US Cerebral Palsy Athletic Association from 1997-2000. Since 1996, Lisa has organized and managed the Long Island Invitational Horse Show, allowing local and national riders with disabilities to compete against their able-bodied peers. In creating Pal-O-Mine Equestrian, Lisa, along with her staff and volunteers, have been able to touch the lives of many and are committed to and successful at improving the quality of life on Long Island for those individuals with disabilities.
Marian Heyink, LISW-S, JD
Secretary
Achievement Centers for Children, Cleveland, Ohio
Marian got her B.A. in Social Work from Cleveland State University, and a Masters in Social Science Administration from Case Western Reserve University. She received a Juris Doctor from Cleveland Marshall College of Law. Marian is a Licensed Independent Social Worker with a Supervision designation, and a licensed attorney in the State of Ohio. She has over twenty years of hospital social work experience, with 15 of those years providing services in the Medical Emergency Room and the Psychiatric Emergency Room of an inner city hospital. During that time, she also served as the advisor to the Cleveland Emergency Medical Services Peer Support program. She worked in the field of Corporate Compliance at Cleveland Clinic Health Care Ventures. Marian worked for Catholic Charities Health and Human Services in the Diocese of Cleveland for over ten years. She started as the Assistant Director of a residential treatment center, then moved to the position of Director of Public Policy. She then transitioned to the position of Attorney in the Department of Migration and Refugee Services. Marian currently works for the Achievement Center for Children's Camp Cheerful in the Therapeutic Horsemanship program.
Marian is EAGALA Certified and both a mental health professional and an equine specialist. She is also a PATH certified therapeutic riding instructor. Marian and her husband Mark Milam live in Seven Hills, Ohio with their two crazy canines, Abby and Charlie McFarley.
Mark Casagrande, MA, LADC
Treasurer
Park Avenue Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mark is the Owner and Executive Director of Park Avenue Center, a Minneapolis based gender-specific residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment program serving mostly poor inner-city clients, the majority of which are court-ordered. Programs include fully integrated Co-occurring Disorders programs, Primary Programs, Relapse Prevention programs, Drug Court Programs, DWI Court programs, and DWI Educational programs. In 2005, Park Avenue Center began utilizing the EAGALA model five days a week for clients in the residencies. With approximately 125 staff, Park offers 115 beds while serving around 250 clients that are in primary treatment with more than 300 clients in Aftercare.
Having been in recovery since 1986, Mark has been very active in the field of substance abuse since 1994 and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Minnesota’s substance abuse trade organization. In addition, Mark has participated in rewriting Minnesota’s substance abuse licensing rules for both agencies and individual counselors, regularly lobbied and educated state legislators, and implemented evidence-based strategies. Mark has a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Psychological Services, is a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor, and has a BS in Marketing. Mark has been married to his wife Linda since 1992 and lives in a suburb of St. Paul, MN with their two children, Abbey and Sam.
Don "Z" Zimmerman, Ph.D., LMHC, LCSW, NCC
Manitou Connections, LLC, Indianapolis, Indiana
“Z” has over 30 years experience in the mental health and education fields working with agencies, organizations, schools, children, adolescents, adults and families. He is a licensed mental health counselor and a licensed clinical social worker. The Indiana Counseling Association presented “Z” with its Mental Health Counselor of the Year Award in 2007. “Z” is also Board Certified in Emergency Crisis Response and does a significant amount of crisis response training. He was a member of crisis response teams that responded to 9-11, Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti and various tornado, flooding and school crisis events. He has served as president of several professional organizations and as a Board of Director member of various state and national organizations and agencies. He has also taught at the university undergraduate and graduate levels.
“Z” and his wife, Linda, are the co-founders of Manitou Connections, LLC in Indianapolis, IN and have worked together as an EAGALA certified team for nine years. They currently provide EAGALA EAP at Selah House, an inpatient eating disorder treatment facility in Anderson, IN. Their practice has included EAP and EAL with a variety of clients and organizations; working with at-risk youth and individuals on the autism spectrum; consulting with agencies, management teams and schools; leadership development; traditional therapy and workshops presentations.
Susan Jung, M.Ed., Ed.S., LPC
Winning Strides, Ltd., Conyers, Georgia
Susan was an elementary school counselor for 37 years. After graduating from the University of Florida, she moved to Texas and was very active in the counseling organizations. Susan began riding at the age of four and has a passion for children and horses. She is a certified riding instructor for the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association and has served as a Walking Horse judge for eight years. Finding EAGALA 12 years ago was the "perfect fit" for combining counseling skills and the presence of horses in her life and career goals. Susan is married to Jim, who has enabled her horse habit, and been her greatest supporter in founding Winning Strides, Ltd.. Susan now works as a licensed professional counselor in her own private practice and conducts EAGALA model EAP/EAL with her equine specialist at her equine assisted learning center in Conyers, Georgia.
Tanja Netscher
Colima, Mexico
Tanja was born in Ivory Coast and lived in Senegal, Holland, France and Mexico where she now resides. This allowed her to have a very open mind and adapt well to almost any situation and people. Her life was filled with horses. Since she was 8, she started riding lessons, participated in jumping and dressage competitions, and was part of the typical Mexican escaramuza. Since 2001, she owns with her husband and her three daughters her own horse facility. Importing and breeding Friesian horses, starting young horses under saddle and "living and learning" among her 20 member herd are part of her daily activities. In 2006, EAGALA changed her life when she finally understood her mission and fulfilled one of her dreams by combining her two passions: helping people through horses.
Bill Langford
Cherokee Ridge Horse Farm, Carencro, Louisiana
info@cherokeeridgehorsefarm.com
Bill is a graduate of Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He spent 30 years working in various engineering and management positions in the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry in the Gulf of Mexico, Africa, Iran and Peru. After retiring, Bill has devoted an ever increasing amount of time to his equine passion and is a graduate of the International Equine School in Ocala, Florida. his wife Mary (an RN, LPC and EAGALA Certified mental health professional part of the team) and he now own a ranch that promotes therapeutic riding for the handicapped through a local non-profit organization (Acadiana Therapeutic Riding Association) and EAP and EAL using the EAGALA model. Bill is working towards his EAGALA Advanced Certification.
Cherokee Ridge Horse Farm (www.CherokeeRidgeHorseFarm.com) also boards horses, stables the local mounted police unit, and breeds and raises thoroughbreds. In addition, the ranch regularly hosts trainings for EAGALA certification and offers the facility to other EAGALA certifiied professionals.
Bella Barr
Middlesex, England UK
Bella has lived in London, England, all her life and juggled horses and a career in media since she left University. With over 15 years of managing international projects her role in documentary production is predominantly solution focused. Having begged and borrowed rides in her teenage years, Bella found herself specialising in working with 'problem horses' and thriving on the reward of watching them grow in confidence and seeing those who had dismissed the horse change their attitude as it started to achieve all the things it had been tagged as not able to do. It is the same results in the arena using the EAGALA model in her work with vulnerable inner-city children that makes Bella so passionate about this work.