Meet The Team
The Team Behind Your Recovery
The people on this team are the reason recovery holds here. They bring real clinical training, and many of them bring something a degree cannot teach, which is having been through some version of this themselves. You will not be handed off between strangers who skimmed your file. You will be known by the same people from the first call to the last day.
staff
Nije Johnson, M.S., LPC-MHSP-Pursuing
Grace Mederich, LMSW
Tony White, MSW
Javier Verdin, LPC, LMHC, Qualified Supervisor
Brandon Stambaugh, CPRS, RCP, Certified Interventionist
Francine Hammonds, CPRS
Francine Hammonds is a compassionate and dedicated recovery professional committed to helping individuals navigate the challenges of substance use and mental health recovery. With personal recovery experience and professional experience supporting individuals through treatment, Francine brings a unique combination of empathy, understanding, and practical knowledge to her work.
Her approach centers on building trust, providing encouragement, and helping individuals recognize their own strengths and ability to create meaningful change. She has experience providing one-on-one support, facilitating groups, assisting with relapse-prevention planning, connecting individuals with community resources, and advocating for clients throughout their recovery journey.
Francine is passionate about creating a safe, supportive, and judgment-free environment where people feel heard, respected, and empowered. She believes recovery is not simply about overcoming addiction—it is about helping individuals build the skills, confidence, and support systems necessary to create a healthier and more fulfilling life.
Through active listening, motivational support, peer coaching, and collaboration with treatment professionals, Francine strives to meet each individual where they are and walk alongside them as they work toward their goals.
Jacqueline Melbardis, LMSW
Jacqueline Melbardis, LMSW, is a compassionate and dedicated social worker who believes that therapy should provide a safe, supportive space where clients feel heard, respected, and empowered. With experience working with individuals navigating mental health and substance use concerns, Jacqueline takes a holistic and individualized approach to helping clients understand themselves, work through challenges, and create meaningful change.
Jacqueline utilizes Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), trauma-informed care, and client-centered therapy to meet clients where they are. She believes that healing is not a one-size-fits-all process and works collaboratively with each client to identify their strengths, develop healthy coping skills, challenge unhelpful thought patterns, and build a stronger sense of self.
Her trauma-informed approach emphasizes safety, trust, empowerment, and understanding how past experiences can influence present thoughts, emotions, relationships, and behaviors. Jacqueline strives to create a therapeutic relationship where clients can be their authentic selves without judgment.
Whether a client is navigating trauma, emotional difficulties, substance use, relationships, or simply feeling stuck, Jacqueline is committed to walking alongside them as they work toward healing, growth, and a life that feels more fulfilling and aligned with their goals.
Close to the Work, Not Removed From It
The people who lead T.R.U.E. are not distant administrators. They set the standard for how everyone here treats the people we serve, and they do it by staying close to the actual work rather than watching it from an office. That is a choice, and clients feel it from the first phone call.
It also shows in the fact that our admissions director is an interventionist who has worked directly with families in crisis. Leadership here means having done the hard part, not having escaped it.
Skilled Enough to Help, Human Enough to Stay
