Meet The Right Step Staff
Executive Leadership
George Joseph
Chief Executive Officer
George took the reins of The Right Step in 1994 when the company was comprised of just one location-a residential treatment program in Houston. His vision and passion are evidenced by The Right Step now being the largest provider of drug and alcohol treatment services in the Southwest, serving nearly 3,700 individuals last year. He remains successful in his mission to provide high quality and affordable services to adolescents, adults, and their families seeking a life without the devastation of active addiction. With 27 years of experience in the field of recovery and treatment, George's insight, knowledge, and leadership are well-regarded in the field, as well as throughout The Right Step and Spirit Lodge organization.
Using the struggles of his youth as a springboard to help others, George began his career in chemical dependency in 1983. He worked at Parkside Lodge for five-plus years prior to joining The Right Step. In addition to his unwavering commitment to clients and creating a caring organization, the years of hard work were recognized in 1999 and 2000 when George won the “triple crown” of counseling. In 1999, he captured honors as the Houston and State of Texas Counselor of the Year presented by the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals. In 2000, he won the highest honor given to a counselor in our nation, the 2000 Lora Roe Memorial Counselor of the Year, awarded by the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors. In 2009, George was named Behavioral Health Champion.
George does not restrict his involvement to The Right Step. He is also involved on the local and state levels of counseling professional organizations and currently on the board of NAADAC. George was instrumental in helping start the Houston Sober Recreation Committee and served as chairman for over 10 years. He is also a member of the Lone Star College Human Services Advisory Committee. Recently he participated in an intervention on The Dr. Oz Show. Click here to view the show and read George’s Dr. Oz blog .
George is married with two children, and despite being over 40, maintains a respectable golf handicap and bragging rights in his basketball league.
Jason Powers, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Powers joined The Right Step and Spirit Lodge staff as chief medical officer in 2006. Originally trained and board certified in family medicine, Dr. Powers re-dedicated his career to helping addicts and their families after he personally faced the addiction issue in June of 2003. He is now also board certified in addiction medicine and passionately helps addicted individuals and their families embrace the healing path of recovery. He does not rigidly fit everyone into one mold, respecting that individual differences matter. He combines holistic treatment modalities with traditional therapies when treating his patients.
Dr. "P" was honored with the Sierra Tucson's Compassion Award and recognized as a Top Addiction Doctor in Houston for three years running by H Texas magazine. He will soon become a published author (Central Recovery Press) when his comprehensive book about addiction, "When The Servant Becomes The Master", is released in March 2013. He is currently secretary/treasurer of the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and is a local expert for The Partnership for a Drug Free America-when he’s not out of town lecturing or sharing his experiences elsewhere in the community. We are proud to have him on our team—not only for his engaging personality, but because he takes time to understand his patients and work with their families.
Dr. Powers is married to a beautiful wife and has three loving kids. Besides spending time with his family, he enjoys yoga and camping.
Joe Bordages, CPA
Vice President, Finance
Prior to joining The Right Step, Joe served as the CFO in a cardiac event monitoring company. Previously, he served in various managerial accounting capacities in the health care and retail industries. He also worked in “Big Four” public accounting and was a highly rated talent recruiter in the Houston market. Joe received his economics degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Joe has been married 21 years and has two adult children who are actively pursuing their upper-division educations. In his spare time he enjoys golf and fishing.
Julie De Nofa
Vice President, Clinical Services
Julie joined The Right Step in 2006 as corporate director of nursing and utilization management. In 2011 she was promoted to oversee all our clinical services. Julie holds her Certified Addiction Registered Nurse and she is also an active member of The International Nurses Society on Addictions. Her nursing background and experience in the field of addiction help her instill a culture of compassionate care throughout the entire Right Step and Spirit Lodge organization.
Julie’s career began in Philadelphia, PA, providing care to those afflicted with mental illness, then with chemical dependency, where she found her niche. Julie volunteers with The Texas Peer Assistance Program for Nurses (TPAPN) as a participant advocate and serves as a committee member for the TPAPN Advisory Board. Julie’s passion is to advance excellence in addiction treatment through staff development, education, advocacy, and collaboration with the highly talented group of individuals at The Right Step.
Julie believes strongly in finding balance between work and home and enjoys spending time with her family. Her three children range in age from 11 to 22 and provide a never-ending source of non-stop activity. Her volunteerism extends to the schools, her community, as a Cub Scout den leader, and pit mom at drift racing events.
Janet “JR” Goforth
Vice President, Marketing and Communications
JR brings a wealth of health care experience and marketing notoriety to the ranks of The Right Step and Spirit Lodge. Among her credentials are such noteworthy names as Memorial Hermann, Methodist Hospital, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, and Columbia/HCA. Her work has won numerous industry awards for writing and creative direction, and one of her commercials was a finalist for “Ad Age’s 100 Best TV Commercials of the Year.”
The University of Houston (UH) honored JR as the first female recipient of the “Distinguished Communications Alumni Award” and she is past president of Houston’s American Advertising Federation chapter. JR taught marketing, publishing and power-presenting at Rice University and UH, where she led its advertising team to a national marketing championship over 200 other universities. “There is passion behind the marketing efforts here. We are highly motivated to bring people in need into The Right Step and Spirit Lodge community where their lives can be changed forever.”
For over 20 years, JR has volunteered and done pro bono fundraising and marketing for Houston’s SPCA. She is a member of the Wagon 13 Desperados on the annual Salt Grass Trail Ride, enjoys hiking, scuba, golf and travel.
Leana Gadbois-Sills
Compliance Officer
Leana joined The Right Step and Spirit Lodge in 2005 after relocating to Texas from California. Before that she worked for 10 years with Matrix Institute in Los Angeles, CA as the director of operations. Throughout 16 years in the substance abuse treatment field, she has gained experience in the research arena working with some of the top addiction researchers in the country. Her work experience with Matrix Institute and UCLA helped establish the overall clinical and administrative view that Leana brings to The Right Step and Spirit Lodge. She worked on addiction research projects traveling to Thailand, Washington D.C., Hawaii, and throughout California.
Leana has over 14 years experience with accreditation processes, primarily with the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and, more recently, with Joint Commission. While Leana is not working on data analyses or compliance issues, she is an artist and enjoys walking her two golden retrievers, swimming and cycling.
Management
Valerie Andersen, Psy.D
Executive Director, Spirit Lodge
Dr. Val ’s breadth of clinical experience spans 15 years and includes concentrations in psychiatry, neuro-psych testing, forensics, and substance abuse disorders. She has worked in variety of therapeutic settings and employed many treatment modalities including inpatient chemical dependency care, outpatient chemical dependency treatment, and inpatient psychiatric treatment. In addition, she has conducted psychological testing and evaluations for the court system.
Originally hailing from Florida, she received her undergraduate degree from University of Central Florida and completed her Masters and Doctorate of Clinical Psychology at Nova Southeastern University.
Terri Edwards, LCDC
Executive Director, Hill Country Region
Terri brings both passion and experience to her work at Right Step. A graduate of the University of Houston Addiction Studies/ Counseling Program, she has been working in chemical dependency treatment for 18 years, including 14 years of clinical supervision and program management. Terri has worked in both residential and outpatient treatment settings. She is a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor who has a strong work ethic characterized by integrity, compassion, and a steadfast committment to providing the best care for Right Step clients and their families.
Charles Fry, LCDC
Executive Director, DFW region
Working in the addiction recovery field since 2001, Charles joined Right Step in January 2004 and, since then, has worked in every level of care including adult and adolescent services and admissions. Out of the office he spends time with his wife of 11 years and his two children (one boy and one girl) ages 10 and 7. Charles coaches both of his children in soccer, basketball, volleyball, and baseball. He’s active in their schools, is a deacon at his church, and teaches Sunday school to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders.
Grantham Hart Perry, LCDC
Executive Director, Houston Region
Grant began his career in 1986 as founding manager of a treatment center in San Diego, California, and was named to the San Diego County Advisory Board on Drug and Alcohol Treatment. He has served as program director for hospital treatment programs in St. Louis, Missouri and Houston, Texas, headed outpatient counseling programs in Chicago, Illinois in the late 1980’s, and developed several alternative peer group programs in the greater Houston area 1990-1992. Before joining Right Step in 1999, Grant worked for five years as Harris County Treatment Alternatives to Incarceration program liaison for Career and Recovery Resources, a United Way affiliate. His treatment philosophy is based in a multi-modal eclectic approach to counseling, combined with strong 12-Step applications.
