Meg Nygren, MSML, CAI-II, CTP-I
Vice President of Marketing
Meg Nygren joins the team as the Vice President of Marketing for Red Oak Recovery programs. Her vast experience includes working in the marketing and business development arena, strategic planning, leadership development, and working with families, clients, and referral sources during the admissions process and throughout their treatment stay. She also has experience with regards to operations, regulation, and compliance in a prior role with Red Oak Recovery.
Meg delivers a high standard of excellence and offers a collaborative team spirit with those she works with. She enjoys working with families and professionals to help deliver solutions for customized treatment and long-lasting, sustainable recovery for those struggling with substance use, trauma, and mental health issues. Meg is a Certified ARISE Interventionist, Level II and a Certified Trauma Professional, Level I.
On her downtime, you can find Meg exploring the many things to do in beautiful Western North Carolina with her husband. Eric and miniature pinscher, Romeo.
Maggie Cain, LCMHCA
Admissions Director
Maggie’s first home was in the great state of Texas. Collegiate tennis and a full scholarship sent her to Arkansas. There she found her first career and love for helping people. Her first job landed her in the nonprofit fundraising sector. For thirteen years she was blessed with getting to raise awareness and much-needed funds for children and families seeking support, hope, and love through programs for psychiatric, emotional, and behavioral care in Arkansas. After earning her Masters in Mental Health and Clinical Counseling in 2016 from Southern Arkansas University, she became a Licensed Associate Counselor in Arkansas and recently (2018) transferred her license to North Carolina as a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate.
Additionally, for fourteen months beginning in December 2016, Maggie provided part-time counseling for Bradford Health Services IOP of Little Rock. Working with the clients and their families at Bradford Health Services was equally fulfilling and joyful as connecting donors to changing lives of others through their financial gifts. That experience, and her love of helping people, led her to a desire to stay in addiction treatment. Maggie found herself seeking through the clients’ strengths and desires for help to be a part of a team that feels the same passion for helping and ensures every client an opportunity to succeed.
Maggie’s biggest strength is that she finds daily happiness in helping others and connecting others to that feeling of joy. She is a Clinical Outreach Specialist for Red Oak Recovery and The Willows. Her passion for helping the whole family heal will live on through her work at Red Oak Recovery by sharing about ROR and The Willows to clinicians, treatment programs and families.
Maggie could not be happier to now live in Arden, with her husband and to explore this beautiful state by foot and kayak.
Ashley Egeland, CPSS
Senior Admissions Counselor & Alumni Program Manager
Ashley joined the Red Oak Recovery® team in the summer of 2017. She is a mass shooting survivor and a survivor of addiction. After many years of running from her trauma and her addiction, she made the decision to enter our women’s program. Since graduating from our program and coming back to work, she has had the opportunity to take on several different roles with our marketing team, our direct care staff, and our alumni program. She joins our admissions team as the Admissions Coordinator and just recently accepted the role as the Alumni Program Manager. She is a Certified Peer Support Specialist and continues to chip away in school to obtain a degree in Psychology. In her free time, she loves to enjoy the outdoors, write, paint, dance, and spend as much time with her family who are back in Colorado and down in Durham.
Wesley Culpepper
Admissions Counselor
Wesley Culpepper grew up in Columbus, GA where he enjoyed playing sports and spending time outdoors. In high school, he began to struggle with addiction and was sent to boarding school, where his substance use only escalated. After multiple attempts in college and bouncing around between treatment centers, he finally gained the willingness to accept help from others. In June 2017, Wesley moved to Asheville and began his journey to obtain long term sobriety. Now, he is active in the recovery community and is living a fulfilling life helping others achieve sobriety.
Wesley has worked in several different roles within the treatment industry including direct care, case management, family communication, operations, and now admissions. This experience helped him to develop a desire for working closely with families of loved ones in treatment, which led him to join the admissions team at Red Oak Recovery®. Wesley is passionate about helping young people who are struggling and showing them that they can accomplish anything if they are willing to ask for help and accept it.
Wesley spends his free time enjoying all that Asheville has to offer. You can often find him running long distances, hiking, and camping with his wife Nancy and their two dogs, Taj and Cooper. He also enjoys mountain biking in Bent Creek and paddle boarding along the French Broad.
Sam Hayes, CPSS
Admissions Counselor
Sam grew up in Orange County, North Carolina where he loved being outside, playing sports, and spending time with family. He began to struggle with addiction in high school and it continued to escalate into his 20’s. After many attempts at treatment Sam found himself at a wilderness program in Asheville in 2018 where he learned coping skills and forged a connection with nature. Since finding recovery, Sam has found education to be therapeutic and vital to his well-being. He graduated from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in 2021 with an Associate Degree and is now enrolled in Western Carolina’s Business Administration and Law program. Sam began working in the treatment industry as direct care staff and as a case manager. He has also been working towards attaining his CADC and is a Certified Peer Support Specialist. While working in recovery, Sam has found that working with families of those suffering from substance use disorder provides him with sense of purpose and fulfillment.
Sam enjoys spending his free time hanging out with friends, tending to his garden, exercising, and running around the yard with his dog Cricket.
Caroline Hogan Blunt
Admissions Counselor
Caroline grew up in Carrollton, GA where she found a love for family, music, and her faith. In middle school, Caroline started struggling with her mental health, which worsened throughout high school and college. After years of trying many other options, Caroline came to The Willows at Red Oak Recovery® in the fall of 2017 as a client. After graduating from our women’s program in 2018, Caroline moved to Orlando, FL where she worked in administrative roles in real estate and the title industry for the next three years. While there, she fell in love with her now husband, Demontá.
In the fall of 2020, Caroline felt a tug back to The Willows, and she and her husband moved to Asheville, NC where she worked in a direct care role. While working as direct care staff at The Willows, Caroline gained experience through everyday interactions with clients, participating in Advanced Clinical Skills trainings, and she is currently in the final stages of obtaining her CADC (Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor) certification.
Since then, Caroline has joined the admissions team and enjoys connecting with families, offering insight into the process, and trying to help people achieve long-term happiness, sobriety, and healing. Caroline is passionate about empowering people to ask for help, and she believes that everyone is deserving of quality care.
On the weekends, you can find Caroline and her husband enjoying good food, playing games, taking care of far too many plants, and wandering aimlessly through the Pisgah National Forest.
MARKETING TEAM
Karen Hunt
National Outreach Specialist
Karen brings over 17 years of addiction/mental health experience to her work at Red Oak Recovery®. She is known for her ability to build strong core relationships and exceptional previous experience as a business owner and entrepreneur. Karen has a Graduate Marketing Certificate from SMU Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas and International Coaching Federation credentials from the Gardner Institute in Southlake, Texas. She is also an accredited Fitness Trainer from the International Sports Sciences Association & Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas.
Karen has served on the boards of NAATP Committee, APRA, The Elisa Project, and is a member of the American Marketing Association, the Dallas Medical Society Circle of Friends, the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, the Nexus Auxiliary, TAAP, NAADAC, and the Eating Disorder Hope Club.
She loves her French Bulldog named Diesel and enjoys travelling, golfing, and spinning. Karen appreciates the ability to continue her education and be a life-long learner.
Carol Rose, MHDL
Collegiate and Clinical Outreach
Carol earned her Master’s in Counseling from UNC Charlotte. Her degree has taught her the importance of being a good listener and building a trusting relationship whether she is working with the individual asking for help, a family member, or a mental health professional. Carol believes that during a time of crisis, trust is paramount to find a good place to heal.
Carol was the founding coordinator for The Collegiate Recovery Program at UNC Charlotte, a program offering support to students in early recovery, it was there that she developed her own trusting relationships with her community in order to grow the program. Carol also brings personal experience with addiction within her own family, which she shares to offer hope to families in need. Her personal experience allows her to empathize and explain the journey a family will take not only while at Red Oak, but beyond. Helping families find continued support within their community is a big part of Carol’s job as a Collegiate and Clinical Outreach Specialist.
In her spare time, Carol enjoys watching old movies, spending time with her husband of nearly 40 years, Marty and being proud of her two grown daughters and seeing them thrive.
Michael Gilpin
Community Outreach Specialist
Michael Gilpin is a native of Western North Carolina. He grew up enjoying all things outdoors, and a few things indoors. After multiple attempts in the university setting, Michael decided to take some time to sort out his own recovery. In the process of doing the work, he began to have fun and enjoy life again. It was during this period that Michael became a wilderness field guide at a nationally recognized recovery program. From there, Michael has worked in multiple levels of care including collegiate recovery, transitional living, mentored adolescents and young adults transitioning from wilderness, and eventually found his niche in marketing and business development.
Michael understands the chaos, stigma, and turbulence that can orbit a person’s life right before entering treatment, and finds hope in helping individuals and families navigate that process with clarity and calmness. He naturally engages with life from a place immersed in empathy and compassion.
Michael enjoys a variety of activities in his spare time, including soccer, climbing, hiking, backpacking, and more. He also likes to unwind with exploring and trying new things, including all the restaurants and food that Asheville has to offer.
Sharon Findlay, MS
Marketing Officer
Raised across the country and abroad, Sharon grew up in a military family. She has worked in mental health, education, and management fields for over 15 years and brings a great deal of personal and professional experience to Red Oak Recovery®. After Sharon began her therapeutic program experience with a therapeutic boarding school, she earned her Master of Science in Organization Development, with a focus on resilience in individuals and groups. This emphasis, combined with the systemic and consultative approach her studies offered, inspired Sharon to return to the field with a new goal: helping clients reach their full potential while simultaneously addressing the health of the organization, its staff, and program as whole. Sharon had the opportunity to further hone these skills in multiple residential settings. Sharon has witnessed first-hand the powerful and life changing outcomes that occur at the Red Oak programs as result of her tenure in secondary programs. She is excited to now be a part of the first stage of the change process for so many young people.
Sharon is extremely dedicated to helping our clients and their families heal. She appreciates the holistic and intentional approach that Red Oak Recovery® utilizes. She is also very committed to social justice issues and serves on the Gender Education and Demystification Symposium (GEMS) board of directors, which is a not-for-profit that oversees an annual conference designed to offer a clinical and educational perspective regarding gender identity.
Sharon currently resides in Asheville, North Carolina, and loves spending time outdoors and with friends. In her spare time, Sharon can be found crafting, nurturing her garden, and snuggling her cats Lucy and Ethel.
