St. Charles inpatient team

Katie Andersen is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) and a Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselor (CADC) She has spent over 10 years in mental health and addiction industry. Katie graduated from Aurora University with a Master’s degree in Social Work. Her passion for athletics and wellness led her to work in collegiate athletics and coaching prior to entering into the mental health and addiction field. Katie’s compassion and caring nature for helping individuals and families struggling with mental health and/or addiction lead her to the intervention team at Recovery Centers of America. The presents of addiction within her own family system motivates her to continue educating families about the disease of addiction. Her goal is to coach families to understand that recovery is possible and they can calm the noise and chaos of their loved ones addiction.

Karen Wolownik Albert, LCSW joins RCA with over 20 years of experience in progressive behavioral health leadership. As a frequent public speaker and advisor regarding local, state, and federal behavioral health issues and initiatives, she is also a subject matter expert on in substance use issues and treatment, juvenile justice and child welfare, therapeutic intervention, and case management.

Karen was the recipient of the 2018 Dr. C. Vincent Bakeman Memorial Award presented by the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health for her work in connecting patients to treatment and improving the system of care for persons struggling with Substance Use Disorder. Karen serves on the Board of Directors of the Lake County Opioid Initiative and Live4Lali.  She worked on the core team of Task Force members in the development and launch of the nationally recognized A Way Out Program, a law enforcement deflection program for persons seeking Substance Use Disorder treatment.

She looks forward to expanding addiction treatment in Illinois and continuing RCA’s mission of saving one million lives, one neighborhood at a time.

Dr. Holtsford holds an MD from the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he also completed a residency in emergency and internal medicine (EM/IM). In addition to his EM/IM board certification, he has been board certified in addiction medicine since 2019.

As Medical Director at RCA, Dr. Holtsford oversees the medical care of patients, including withdrawal management, chronic medical conditions and any other medical issues that arise during their stay at RCA.

Dr. Holtsford’s interest in addiction treatment and advocacy comes from his time as an ER physician, witnessing the ravages of drugs and alcohol on people in the community. Since obtaining board certification in addiction medicine, he also trains other providers, advocates for better care of OUD patients in the ER and works toward getting care to patients in the criminal justice system.

Prior to RCA, Dr. Holtsford was a full-time ER Physician. He continues to hold positions as a part-time ER physician at Northwestern Delnor Hospital in Geneva; the Medical Director of Lighthouse Recovery, an outpatient SUD clinic in St. Charles; the Illinois Medical Director of Bright Heart Health, an OUD treatment provider via telemedicine; as well as a member of the Kane County Opioid Task Force.

Dr. Mark Zissman is a licensed clinical psychologist and joined Recovery Centers of America at St. Charles in August of 2020. Dr. Zissman has over 10 years of experience working in various clinical and leadership positions in the field of addictions, in both inpatient and outpatient settings. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Northern Illinois University, and completed his graduate training at Adler University, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Counseling and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Zissman’s professional interests include the treatment of co-occurring disorders, as well as the integration of evidence-based treatment and recovery practices. He feels particularly passionate about helping individuals discover their own unique motivations for creating lasting change.