Jana Cook, MD, PhD
Assistant Project Scientist
Jana Cook, MD, PhD, joined CCARTA in 2006 as Assistant Project Scientist. She provides training on addiction and co-occurring disorders treatment to a variety of professionals working in custody and community-based treatment programs in the state of California, focusing on the workforce of substance abuse counselors and criminal justice staff. She also serves as group co-facilitator for medical students at UCSD. In 2007, she became a member of the Executive Committee of the Forensic Addictions Corrections Treatment (FACT) Board of Directors.
Before coming to the US in 2006, Dr. Cook worked as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University Hospital of Bratislava. She worked in the Psychiatric Emergency Unit and supervised a Department for Addiction Disorders and Psycho-reactive States. Jana graduated from the Comenius University Medical School in Bratislava, Slovakia. She is trained in adult general psychiatry, with a postgraduate specialization in substance abuse treatment and forensic psychiatry. Her doctoral work was focused on the treatment of heroin addiction and her major areas of professional interests are co-occurring disorders, intoxication psychoses, transcultural psychiatry and the use of hypno-analysis in post-traumatic stress disorders.
Dr. Cook has 13 years experience in teaching clinical psychopathology and special psychiatry to medical students, as well as forensic psychiatry to criminal investigation students of the Slovak Police Academy. She taught courses on addiction treatment at the Medical School and the School of Philosophy at Comenius University. Jana also worked with the Slovak Ministry of Justice as a certified expert witness in psychiatry. Jana represents the Slovak Psychiatric Association within the World Council of Young Psychiatrists, and has worked on the executive board of the World Association of Young Psychiatrists and Trainees. She has been elected as a member of the Committee for Protection of Public Order for the City Council of Bratislava, and has been active in the community promoting de-stigmatization of mental health. Jana has experience in working with the Council of Europe and the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction as a consultant.
Scot Lord, CATC
Senior Learning Skills Counselor
Scot Lord, CATC, FACT, is a Senior Learning Skills Counselor at UCSD CCARTA. Scot completed the Alcohol and Other Drug Studies program at City College and began working for Mental Health Systems in the East County Drug Court program. He worked as a primary counselor integrating Substance Use Disorders (SUD) treatment with the criminal justice involved clients. Drug Courts are a diversionary treatment intervention which places convicted drug offenders in treatment rather than custody settings. Working within the Drug Court model gave him first-hand experience with the questions and concerns of criminal justice professionals as they relate to treatment interventions. After nearly two years, he transferred to a Proposition 36 program where he was the lead counselor for more than a year. This position afforded him the opportunity to coordinate treatment strategies with parole and probation officers.
Fred Tent
Senior Learning Skills Counselor
Fred Tent has over 40 years experience in the Therapeutic Community model of substance abuse treatment, with 19 years experience working with in-prison Therapeutic Communities throughout the world. A Protégé of Charles E. Dederich, he attended to all innovative aspects of therapeutic communities, focusing on ways of improving facilitation of change for people with histories of criminality and substance abuse. He is certified in Psychodrama from Dr. Lewis Yablonsky. He was instrumental in developing the first of its kind, Lifer/Mentor program at RJD and assisted implementation of Lifer/Mentor programs at Corcoran SATF, Valley State Prison for Women, and Pleasant Valley State Prison for men. Mr. Tent has helped to implement treatment programs, establish curriculum, and provide technical assistance, consultation, and staff training throughout the United States, Italy, and Canada.
Denise Sassoon is the Program Manager for Mental Health Systems Providence Place, a FOTEP program in San Diego. A consultant with UCSD CCARTA for over six years, she facilitates Work Force Development Trainings for F.A.C.T. Certification including Cross Trainings throughout California. She has been involved with the OSAP initiative since its inception in 1991 at Amity, RJD, and has been in the field of substance abuse treatment with Criminal Justice clientele for the past 18 years. Her formal education consists of an advanced degree in Criminal Justice.
William Smith, PhD, has more than three decades of experience in drug abuse treatment. Dr. Smith is a leading authority in clinical practice and staff development. After thirty years of service with Phoenix House serving as Corporate Vice President and Director of Clinical Services for the California Region, he recently retired. Dr. Smith is an internationally certified addiction specialist. Previous positions include Co-chair of the Executive Committee of the California Addiction Training Center, and member of the curriculum committee of the University of California Irvine Extension Programs. He served on the Orange County Drug Advisory Board, and the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council for both Orange and Los Angeles Counties. He also co-authored with the Rand Research Corporation on the recently published Adolescent Outcome Project. He currently is an independent consultant for UCSD and with other organizations across the nation.