Capital Region inpatient team

Fredericka ”Freddie” Ford serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Recovery Centers of America (RCA) at Capital Region. Freddie comes to RCA with over 18 years in healthcare operations management and quality assurance with focus on behavioral health, medical surgical operations, acute, and substance abuse facilities across all services line.

Before joining RCA, Freddie served as the regional CEO working with several organizations on the West Coast including Newport Healthcare and US Healthvest. In these roles, she was responsible for all aspects of operations and the implementation of detox and specialty psychiatric programs. In 2021, she founded Behavioral Institutes of America, a group of multi-specialty behavioral health facilities in the U.S. and the Caribbean. Prior to this, she held ownership of Meridian Behavioral Health Systems with over 16 facilities and programs across the country. Freddie was the Chief Operations Officer and Vice President of Business Development of Carolina Health Partners, where she oversaw day-to-day operations and developed corporate infrastructure and managed care training for staff. Freddie has been in previous executive roles with Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, Universal Health Services, Acadia Healthcare, American Addiction Centers and American Hospital Management Corporation.

Freddie holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Business from Fisk University, received a Master’s degree in Executive Business Management with a concentration in Healthcare Management from Seton Hall University and received a Master’s degree in Medical Bioethics from the University Of Pennsylvania- School Of Medicine. She is a member of The American College of Healthcare Executives and National Association of Health Service Executives.

Freddie’s philosophy has emphatically professed that leadership must be part of the solution and work collaboratively with all stakeholders. She believes that every experience in her facilities should reflect the same care and expectation as if it were her family member. This expectation will be reflected every minute, every day from investors to staff members. Simply put, “Quality of care should be as natural as breathing”.

Dr. Carolyn Thangawng is Medical Director of Recovery Centers of America at Capital Region.

Dr. Carolyn Thangawng earned an M.D. from the University of Vermont and completed her Public Health and General Preventive Medicine residency with an MPH in Epidemiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She holds a Master’s degree in Psychology and aided in the investigation of brain function early in her career using neuroimaging techniques. She completed her Addiction Medicine fellowship at Caron Treatment Centers / Tower Health and holds a Greenbelt in Lean Six Sigma.  She serves as Medical Director at RCA Capital Region and has a passion for Public Health and Addiction.  Dr. Thangawng was instrumental in developing and expanding access to Opioid Treatment Programs in the Baltimore Pre-Trial Complex under the State Opioid Use Disorder Examination and Treatment Act of 2019.  Dr. Thangawng is a member of the adjunct Faculty of Addiction Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and serves as President-Elect of the Maryland-DC Chapter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Leslie Cross is the Clinical Director for Capital Region providing supervision to the team of therapists and group facilitators as well as helping guide the future clinical program at Capital Region. Leslie’s dedication to evidence-based treatment combined with her deep understanding of addiction’s impact on individuals and their loved ones further our mission to save lives.

Prior to her role as Clinical Director Leslie was an inpatient Therapist at Capital Region. While at RCA, Leslie developed the innovative Balance Program, a specialized regimen available across all RCA sites that are tailored to individuals experiencing co-occurring SUD and mental health disorders. The program is designed for patients enrolled in inpatient and outpatient treatment programs who have been diagnosed with at least one co-occurring mental health disorder such as anxiety, bipolar, bipolar manic-depressive disorder, borderline personality traits, impulsivity, history of trauma, major depressive disorder and others.

 Before joining RCA Capital Region, Leslie worked with the Charles County Health Department for nearly 15 years. During her tenure, she served as an outpatient therapist and clinical supervisor. While there, she also provided treatment services, including individual and group therapy to incarcerated individuals at the county’s detention center at both the intensive outpatient program (IOP) and general outpatient program (GOP) levels of care. Prior to the Charles County Health Department, Cross was a direct care worker for the nonprofit treatment center Walden Sierra.

Cross witnessed firsthand the effects of addiction in her family. This life experience fueled her drive to understand substance use disorder (SUD) and to be an advocate for evidence-based treatment.

Kent Alford RN, BSN,MSN FNPc, B.C.is an ANCC Board Certified Psychiatric Registered Nurse and current Nursing Director for Recovery Centers of America Capital Region.. Kent is the former Chief Nursing Officer for both Poplar Springs Behavioral Hospital 300 beds with inpatient and outpatient services and the former Chief Nursing Officer of Behavioral Health  Shady Grove Adventist Behavioral Health a major Hospital with over 400 employees and 185 beds.

Education profile includes Coppin State University BSN in Nursing, Current Family Nurse Practitioner DNP Family Nurse Practitioner Senior Student class of 2023. Kent has over twenty years Behavioral Health experience as working as a clinician, Child Mobile Treatment, Inpatient and Outpatient Behavioral services and over a decade of Executive and Senior Executive experience. Kent serves on several community level Mental Health Committees. Kent is the Co-Chair Behavioral Health Advisory Group and the Maryland Chair of the Behavioral Health Committee NAACP Chair of Behavioral Health Committee, Board member Psych U Stigma Committee. Kent is also Adjunct Faculty at Catholic University BSN program. Kent is published articles on the Comfort Room in “Inpatient Behavioral Health Settings”. Kent has piloted many state of the art programs in Behavioral Health programs around the state included but not limited to Tele-psychiatry at both Prince William Hospital  Washington Adventist Behavioral Health and Current UMCRH. Kent is also a member and Executive Vice President of the 100 Black Men Prince George’s County Deputy Director of Intake.