As Director of Outpatient Services, Jennifer Walden oversees NCTR’s Assessments and Admissions Department as well as the agency’s Counseling Center outpatient programs. She previously worked for NCTR from 2004 to 2015, holding multiple clinical positions. After leaving NCTR, she worked as a therapist at Potomac Health Services, before rejoining NCTR in her current role in 2022. Jennifer is a licensed professional counselor and licensed substance abuse treatment practitioner and holds a Master of Science in education (community agency counseling) from Old Dominion University. “I am motivated by the changes I see in our patients every day -- I have the honor of watching our patients bravely confront an often-stigmatized illness.”

Carolyn Raufer is the program manager of NCTR’s Counseling Center, which provides several levels of outpatient treatment, including intensive outpatient (IOP), outpatient (OP) and partial hospitalization. She first joined NCTR in 2016 as an intern and was hired as a primary counselor at the Counseling Center in 2017. She has continued working at the Counseling Center ever since, taking on increasingly responsible roles. She has a Master of Arts in counseling from Marymount University. “I am consistently motivated by our caring, skilled, and creative treatment staff,” Carolyn says, “as well as by watching patients grow and heal over time.”

Susan Spies manages the Office Based Addiction Treatment (OBAT) program at NCTR’s Counseling Center, where she prescribes Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for patients suffering from opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder. She also provides MAT education to patients and staff. She has 20 years of experience in nursing, including nine years in addiction medicine. Prior to her current position she held several positions at NCTR, including family nurse practitioner in the residential programs and director of nursing. Before joining NCTR, she worked for several years at Neighborhood Health, where she provided primary care as a family nurse practitioner. She derives great fulfillment and gratitude from “the patients that check in with me one, two, even three years later to let me know how they're doing and that they are still sober.” Susan holds a master’s in nursing and master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Mary Lee received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1989. She completed residency in internal medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and subsequently completed a psychiatric residency at George Washington University. Dr. Lee is board certified in psychiatry, internal medicine, and addiction medicine. She joined the CPN laboratory in November of 2012. Her research has focused on the effect of intranasal oxytocin on drug craving, reward learning, and emotional processing in drug dependent and schizophrenic patients. In addition, she has investigated the neurobehavioral effects of genetic polymorphisms, COMT and OPRM, on reward processing in smokers and drug users. Her current research is on the role of oxytocin in alcohol and drug use disorders. She was the PI of a translational and clinical project studying the role of oxytocin in alcohol use disorder for which she received a NIH Bench-to-Bedside (B2B) Award by the Office of Behavioral & Social Sciences Research (OBSSR). She is collaborating with George Mason University on a project funded by the Department of Defense aimed at investigating the role of oxytocin in long-term bonding. In 2018, Dr. Lee was presented with the NIAAA Clinical Service Award.

Edner Charles, FNP is a Board-Certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner who joined the counseling center team in 2023. He currently sees to the mental health needs of patients at the Counseling Center. Edner received his Master of Science Nursing degree from the University of Cincinnati in April of 2013. His prior experience includes Adventist Medical Group, Washington Adventist Hospital, Medstar Franklin Square Hospital, QCI Behavioral Health and EdChA Behavioral Health.