Roanoke Refuge

How the Care Team Is Built

Our Care Team

The roles you will work with at Roanoke Refuge, the licenses behind them, and how the team coordinates care across one integrated plan. Staff names and bios will be added when our hiring is finalized; the clinical model below is what guides the work.

The bottom line

What to know about the Roanoke Refuge clinical team.

  • Every clinician is licensed or certified in Virginia. LPCs, LCSWs, CSACs, LSATPs, certified Peer Recovery Specialists, and case managers.
  • Each client is paired with a primary therapist during admissions, typically an LPC or LCSW, who carries the central clinical relationship.
  • Care teams operate as a unit. Weekly clinical staffing meetings keep the primary therapist, case manager, group facilitators, and peer recovery specialist aligned.
  • Peer Recovery Specialists are integral, not an add-on. Lived-experience mentorship runs alongside the licensed clinical team.
  • Free insurance verification happens before any clinical commitment. Most major commercial plans and Virginia Medicaid cover outpatient care.

The quality of any addiction treatment experience depends almost entirely on the people delivering it. Roanoke Refuge is hiring its clinical team to that standard right now, with every position filled by a clinician licensed or certified in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This page describes the roles those clinicians occupy and how the team is structured around an integrated treatment model. Individual staff bios and headshots will be added once hiring is complete and each team member has agreed to be listed publicly.

The values and mission behind Roanoke Refuge shape how this team is being built. Credentials matter. Clinical experience matters. So does the kind of person who can hold the weight of a family’s fear and show up for the work the next morning. The roles below describe the disciplines we are building the care team around.

Roles on the Care Team

The team is organized around several licensed and certified disciplines, each one contributing a specific clinical capability to the integrated treatment model. The descriptions below cover what each role does, what credential or license it requires in Virginia, and how it fits into the broader plan. Individual staff names and bios are not posted publicly until hiring is complete and each clinician has reviewed and approved their listing.

Roanoke Refuge prescribes FDA-approved MAT medications on-site, including buprenorphine, naltrexone (oral and extended-release Vivitrol), acamprosate, and disulfiram. Methadone, which requires Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) certification, is coordinated with community OTPs for clients best served by that option. Our medical team integrates medication with therapy as part of one treatment plan.

How Our Team Works Together

Treatment here is not a siloed experience. Your care team, including your primary therapist, case manager, group facilitators, and peer recovery specialist, talks to each other about your progress, your challenges, and your evolving clinical needs. Weekly clinical staffing meetings make sure no one falls through the cracks. The treatment plan is a living document, reviewed and adjusted by the full team as your clinical picture evolves.

Worth saying out loud: this is the practical answer to why integrated care matters. If you are making progress in individual therapy but stalling in group work, you need a coordinated team response, not two unconnected providers operating on incomplete information. If your insurance benefits run into a snag, you need a case manager who already knows your clinical context. If your dual-diagnosis depression is starting to lift, the full team needs to know so the treatment plan can shift accordingly. That coordination is the model.

Ongoing Training and Professional Development

Our clinical team commits to continuous learning. The field changes, and what we knew about addiction medicine five years ago has expanded. Here are the areas the staff trains in on an ongoing basis:

Trauma-informed care and neuroscience

The neuroscience of trauma and addiction and the practical application of trauma-informed principles across the program. Learn more

Motivational Interviewing fidelity

Ongoing supervision and advanced application of MI as both a formal therapy and a clinical communication style. Learn more

DBT skills training

Application of Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills in substance use contexts, particularly distress tolerance and emotional regulation. Learn more

MAT prescribing protocols

Up-to-date practice in the FDA-approved medications used in MAT (buprenorphine, naltrexone, acamprosate, disulfiram), DEA prescribing requirements, and integration with the broader clinical plan.

Cultural humility and equitable care

Continuous work on cultural humility and equitable care practices, recognizing that addiction looks different across communities and that effective care meets people where they are.

Crisis de-escalation and suicide risk assessment

Skills training in crisis response, suicide risk assessment, and the safety planning protocols that follow.

Harm reduction philosophy

Practical application of harm reduction alongside abstinence-oriented treatment, because both have a place in evidence-based clinical care.

Local, regional, and accessible.

Roanoke Refuge serves adults across the Roanoke Valley — Roanoke City, Salem, Vinton, and the surrounding counties of Roanoke, Botetourt, and Bedford — from a facility at 1630 Braeburn Drive in Salem, just off I-81. Most clients are within a 30-minute drive of the program.

The path forward is a conversation, not a commitment. A short call with the Roanoke Refuge admissions team covers fit, level of care, and insurance — at no cost, with full confidentiality, before any clinical decisions are made. Insurance verification runs during the same call. Call (540) 900-0353 when you are ready.

Frequently Asked

What families ask about the team.

If your question is not here, our admissions team can answer it on the first call.

Are all your clinicians licensed in Virginia?

Yes. Every clinician on the Roanoke Refuge team is licensed or certified in the Commonwealth of Virginia in their respective discipline, including LPCs, LCSWs, CSACs, LSATPs, and certified Peer Recovery Specialists.

Who will be my primary therapist?

Someone matched to fit, not assigned at random. Each client is paired with a primary therapist during the admissions process, typically a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) or Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), based on clinical fit, specialty area, and scheduling. The primary therapist carries the central clinical relationship across the course of treatment.

Do you have a medical director on staff?

Yes. Our medical director provides oversight of clinical protocols, and the medical team prescribes FDA-approved MAT medications on-site as part of the integrated treatment plan — including buprenorphine, naltrexone, acamprosate, and disulfiram.

Will I work with peer recovery specialists?

Yes. Peer Recovery Specialists are an integral part of the treatment experience at Roanoke Refuge, not an add-on. They provide mentorship, lived-experience perspective, and practical recovery guidance alongside the licensed clinical team.

How does the team coordinate care across roles?

Each client has a care team made up of a primary therapist, case manager, group facilitators, and peer recovery specialist. Weekly clinical staffing meetings keep the full team aligned on each client's progress, and the treatment plan is a living document that the team reviews and adjusts as the clinical picture evolves.

References

(4 sources)
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  • American Society of Addiction Medicine. (n.d.). About ASAM and the ASAM Criteria. https://www.asam.org/
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2024). Advancing addiction science. https://nida.nih.gov/
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2024). National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). samhsa.gov
  • Virginia Department of Health. (2024). Drug overdose data. vdh.virginia.gov

Begin With the Care Team

The team is built to meet you where you are.

Working with the care team described above starts with one phone call to admissions. You will not be asked anything you cannot answer. The intake conversation gathers the relevant clinical information and pairs each new client with the right primary therapist as the team is finalized.

State Licensed
42 CFR Part 2
Evidence-Based
Trauma-Informed
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