Our Leadership Team

Tod Cunningham is passionate about addiction recovery. He became involved the way many people do – after seeing a loved one struggle with addiction. Watching someone he cared about struggle with their addiction broke his heart, which is why he began volunteering with We Care America. While there, he learned as much as he could about recovery therapies.

While at We Care America, he met Jocelyn Whitfied of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration. She inspired him to become even more involved in the field, which led to a role as the Vice President of Pacific Hills Treatment Center. He’d turn his dedicated volunteer work into a career and had a greater opportunity to make an even bigger difference. He spent the next decade growing Pacific Hills and helping countless people overcome their addictions.

Tod was a successful businessman for years before joining Pacific Hills and has spent the years after he left helping treatment centers streamline their process and become profitable and more effective. However, he has recognized that there are gaps to the effective treatment equation: quality treatment, affordability and accessibility , and post treatment and the continuum of care post treatment.

Throughout his career, Tod has seen how big of a challenge addiction can be, both for addicts and for the people who love them. He also knows how amazingly effective rehab and treatment can be. He has seen people completely turn their lives around after going through addiction treatment, and he wants to make that option available to anyone who wants it.

During his time at Pacific Hills, Tod served as an unofficial financial counselor to many patients. People would reach out, ready to get help and beat their addiction, but not able to afford it. Tod found that only a small percentage of the people who reached out to Pacific Hills for help were able to afford the treatment that they needed. He saw firsthand how heartbreaking it can be when someone knows that they need help but doesn’t have the resources to access it. He felt called to work with patients and families to figure out financing strategies.

As an addiction recovery professional, Tod understood the importance of maintaining full capacity at treatment centers. Because there was no lack of demand, he instead focused on finding ways for families to afford the services. As a result, he developed a deep familiarity of the many different financing options available for those seeking treatment and used it to help fill his center.

When you work with Tod, you are working with a seasoned professional who has chosen to focus his talents on helping families like yours.

James Armstrong was raised in Kalispell, Montana, the son of a family physician.  He studied History at Princeton University.  After guiding in Glacier Park for 3 years and working as a ski patrolman he matriculated at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, receiving his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1995.  He completed his training in Family Medicine at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona, returned to Montana to work with the Indian Health Service for 2 years, and then joined his father in his hometown.  It is there that Dr. Armstrong first pursued his professional interest in addiction recovery, becoming the Medical Director at the Wilderness Treatment Center for 7 years.  Some years later Dr. Armstrong confronted his own addictive and compulsive behaviors, entered treatment and graduated returning to practice in Montana until his retirement from clinical practice in 2021.  Dr. Armstrong has worked at New Beginning Ranch as an Addictions Coach and is pleased to join the Edge team.

Debbie is a certified Clarity Catalyst and Empowerment Coach who teaches people how to integrate natural alternatives, including mindfulness and emotional intelligence tools, into their everyday to overcome obstacles, cultivate their internal wisdom, and step into their power to transform and evolve their lives.

She is a certified trainer and coach of the “CIJ Clarity Catalyst” program which is based on Stanford University’s famed MBA Course “Creativity in Business” to empower students of all ages (14+) with practical and proven techniques to discover their next powerful chapter in life. This course is still considered to be the most life transformative course ever taught at Stanford, and now it’s available to you!

Debbie also teaches this course to corporations and works as a mindset coach to provide businesses with a competitive edge by helping to foster and develop the powerful creative potential within both teams and individuals. This powerful program leads to greater innovation, clarity and creativity for problem solving, conscious communication between employees as well as clients, improved life/work balance, which creates positive shifts in organizational culture, customer satisfaction, and the overall bottom line.

She is also a Chopra Certified Meditation Teacher, and an advocate for the integration of natural alternatives for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing & healing. These alternatives include: organic CBD, essential oils, vast plant medicine options, Ayurveda, Reiki, acupuncture, massage, hypnosis, and many others!

Debbie is also passionate about creating change in the way the elderly and disabled are cared for in many nursing and rehabilitation centers, as well as providing support and coping strategies for caregivers. She believes that this program, combined with other healing modalities, will greatly reduce the number of abuse cases, reduce staff turnover, improve the patient and family experience, quality of care and healing, and save the corporations millions of dollars in legal fees from a decrease in medical malpractice and neglect complaints.

Debbie’s work is inspired by the experiences and tools that helped her overcome childhood and adult trauma, and by the extraordinary and inspiring journey of her mom, Linda. She is a guide to help others see with their hearts and to heal themselves, from the inside out. Anything is possible.

Debbie’s Certifications:

• Certified Clarity Catalyst Coach for Teens and Adults
• Certified Culture Catalyst & Corporate Mindset Coach
• Chopra Certified Meditation Teacher
• Master of Science Degree in Audiology

Paula Kettula is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been in the field of mental health for over 20 years helping children, families and adults overcome stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and addictions. 

Paula holds a master’s degree in social work from San Diego State University. She has a diploma in Montessori education from Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).

In addition, Paula is a certified yoga teacher (RYT-200) and is trained in EMDR, Sandplay Therapy, Play Therapy and Transformational Leadership.

Paula is also the creator of two massively successful online parenting summits called “Becoming a Peaceful Parent” and “Beyond Screen Time” which were attended by over 40 world renown parenting experts such Dr. Daniel Siegel, Dr. Rick Hanson, Dr. Kardaras, Dr. Victoria Dunckley, and Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair. 

Paula and her work has been featured in Yahoo Finance, The San Diego Union Tribune, Shoutout Socal, Boston Herald and many more influential news organizations. She regularly makes appearances as an expert in online summits and events.   

Paula has developed a unique framework called Transformational Parenting which offers parents the mindset tools and practices to become empowering, influential, loving and inspirational leaders in their family so that they can live a vision-driven life and create exceptional relationships with their children. 

Transformational Parenting Framework is an effective, time-tested method which helps parents shift from just surviving as a parent to thriving as a family, and meet their children’s needs without being triggered, stressed or overwhelmed resulting in a peaceful, joyful and loving family environment.

Besides coaching parents, Paula offers Transformational Relationship Coaching for couples who desire to experience unconditional love and fulfillment in their relationship.

Paula also runs her private psychotherapy practice in San Diego California where she manages several providers as well as continues to see children and adults focusing on treatment of trauma, anxiety and depression.   

Paula has an eclectic approach to healing which is infused with her experience as a psychotherapist, trauma expert, Yogi, Montessori Teacher, as well as lover and student of philosophy and spirituality. 

She supercharges her approach with the power of the latest research findings from neuroscience, mindfulness and compassion practices as well as the psychology of transformation. 

Candace Plattor is an Addictions Therapist in private practice, where she specializes in working with the family and other loved ones of people who are struggling with addiction, in her unique and signature LoveWithBoundaries Family Addiction Counseling and Therapy System (LoveWithBoundaries F.A.C.T.S.). As a former addict with over 30 years clean and sober, Candace learned that overcoming addiction is a family condition: everyone in the family is affected by addiction and everyone needs to heal. For three decades, she has been helping both addicts and their loved ones understand their dysfunctional behaviors and make healthier life choices.

Dr. Earl Henslin has a doctorate in clinical psychology and is a licensed marriage and family therapist, former part-time faculty member at the Rosemead Graduate School of Psychology at Biola University, La Mirada, California. Dr. Henslin is the author of seven books, and co-author of three books and numerous professional articles. He is a member of several professional organizations and helped in the founding of Overcomers Outreach to aid churches in establishing support groups. He has led seminars and retreats for lay people and professionals nationally and internationally.

For the past 20 years—working closely with brain imaging research pioneer Daniel G. Amen, MD—Dr. Henslin has been integrating brain imaging into the treatment of psychological, physical, and spiritual problems at his counseling practice, Henslin and Associates, a Christian counseling group in Brea, California.

As a practicing psychotherapist and Christian counselor Dr. Earl Henslin is helping individuals and families in marriage counseling, traumatic stress, addictions, abuse, ADD/ADHD and other issues, with an innovative, state of the art therapeutic approach. Dr. Henslin advocates the use of SPECT scans (single photon emission computerized tomography) as pioneered by Dr. Daniel Amen, to help identify areas of the brain that may not be functioning properly.

Before starting her career in corporate America, Jaime dedicated 10 years of her life to mission-driven nonprofits, empowering and educating at-risk people in the United States and abroad. Working as an advocate for families affected by addiction, incarceration and poverty. Jaime is passionate about creating connection and building relationships that bridge gaps of differences and create possibilities for all.

Jaime has over a decade of experience in building start-up companies, her expertise is in the area of developing and implementing companywide operational policies and procedures, managing executive customer relationships and human resources. She has managed large-scale multidisciplinary and multi-agency events as well.

Jaime was key in bridging the gap between a diverse group of international investors, non-U.S. managers, and American employees, as well as state- and federal-level politicians and regulatory agencies. Jaime’s experience traveling the world supports her successful efforts maintaining relationships with a wide range of customers and contractors from the US and abroad.