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Chip Hoppes Scaled

Chip Hoppes, MBA, FMP

Operations Director

Chip grew up in Bostic, North Carolina. After high school, he left home to serve in the Marine Corps.

During his time in service, he grew to appreciate mentoring and leading teams. This led to a growing desire to help others achieve their personal and professional goals in life. He also developed a passion for identifying opportunities for improvement in work systems and processes, seeking out ways to achieve greater efficiencies in operational efforts.

Small town life eventually called Chip and his family back to the local area. Since returning home, he has had a chance to work in the industrial and commercial sectors. He has also had the opportunity to oversee logistical and operational support for a variety of projects. Throughout his career, Chip continued his education, eventually receiving his Master’s Degree from Strayer University in 2021.

With a history of diverse responsibilities and duties, Chip has had the challenge of supporting organizational operations in a variety of unique capacities. Along with this, his time in service helped shape his perspective of the world and has granted a special appreciation for the people he encounters in it. This has created a desire within him to continue to serve others.

Chip brings his experiences to Foothills to answer his call to serve. As the Operations Director, he works to help create and maintain an environment that feels safe, secure, and suitable to support recovery processes.

In his spare time, Chip strives to be a life-long learner, studying various topics conducive to personal development. Chip enjoys the outdoors and tends to a small home farm with his family.

Taylor Chenoweth Scaled

Taylor Chenoweth

Program Director

Bio coming soon!

Jennifer Knight New

Jennifer Knight

Barn Manager

Jennifer has a BS in Psychology with an emphasis in therapeutic horsemanship and childhood and family studies. In college, she competed on an intercollegiate equestrian team and earned a High Point Rider ribbon at an IHSA competition. Jennifer successfully completed a therapeutic riding internship at The Burton Center working with students of all ages and disorders. She also enjoys volunteering as a jump judge and videographer.

Jennifer previously worked at Tryone Equine Hospital in Columbus, NC. She also taught riding lessons to neurotypical and neurodivergent clients at Charlston Area Therapeutic Riding in Johns Island, SC. Jennifer worked with foster children at Bowers Rodgers Children’s Home in Greenwood, SC.

At Foothills, Jennifer’s passion for adolescents is evident in the attentive, empathetic way she shows up for clients. She seamlessly transfers passion for horses and therapeutic knowledge to clients through relationship-building, rhythmic riding, one-on-one sessions, and a horse apprenticeship. Her weekly equine sessions are a favorite among clients not only for the time spent with the horses, but also for Jennifer’s gentle, patient presence.

When not at Foothills, Jennifer enjoys various craft projects, her dogs, and a pet tortoise. She takes advantage of the scenic NC mountain ranges by camping with her horses, hiking, and kayaking. Her self-proclaimed hobby is “collecting hobbies” highlighting her curiosity in all aspects of life. Jennifer’s passion for adolescents in crisis paired with her expertise in equine therapy makes her an invaluable asset to our Foothills campus.

Danielle Augustine New

Danielle Augustine

Administrative Specialist

Danielle used to work in a real estate lawyer’s office as a Real Estate Paralegal.  She grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida.  Honestly, Danielle never new Foothills was here until she came to interview for her position, but some experiences that she has are not with adolescents, they are actually with her parents. Danielle’s mom passed away from a drug overdose when she was in 7th grade and Danielle’s dad is a recovering drug addict and alcohol abuse, he has been sober 24 years in February. She seen it all growing up. Some skills, strengths and perspectives that Danielle has to bring to the team are a positive attitude, she is great listener and she likes to problem solve. Some of her strengths are that she is dedicated and determined in what she does, she is also very patient and trustworthy. One good perspective that Danielle would bring to the team is a skill or skill set that would help anyone solve the issue or problem at hand to help make it better.

Danielle’s role at Foothills at Red Oak is she is the administrative specialist. She started in June of 2023 and she does a lot of office duties but one of her favorite things is, she is the first one the families see when they arrive at Foothills. It is a very emotional and happy time at the same time. It is emotional to her because I know the families are about to leave their son with us but also happy moments because their son is getting the help that they need and they are in great hands when they do leave them. She will support them in every way that she could. She is a very outgoing person and she love to learn new things and the things, activities, food and support that are at Foothills is phenomenal. When you do some of the things here at Foothills it makes you realize that there is so much more that you can do with your life and get out and be the person that you are without all the negativity that you think you might have or some of the people that you are around.

Nick Aust

Nick Aust

Director of Food Services

Nick is a native to Asheville and is the proud single dad to his 14 year old son. He loves music and plays the bass guitar. He also loves sports and played baseball for Blue Ridge Community College. His passion for cooking is what brought him to Red Oak and he looks forward to being able to impact someone’s life through nutritional therapy.

Rebecca Whilldin New

Rebecca Whilldin, BA, MAT

Academic Coordinator

Rebecca holds a BA in English, a master’s in teaching, and is plugging away at a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Non-Fiction. Rebecca serves as the academic coordinator for Red Oak Recovery’s Foothill campus. There she combines her educational and mental health background to facilitate a peaceful learning space for young men recovering from drug addiction. Prior to that she was an “accidental English teacher” at a tiny rural high school in Louisiana. Though teaching was never a goal for Rebecca, when given the opportunity to try it out, she found that she enjoyed paying her education forward to younger generations.

Rebecca is passionate about mental health awareness and post-traumatic growth. She believes in the power of therapy, yoga, and self-love as these approaches served her on her personal healing journey. Rebecca can be found tucked away in a tiny Carolina cabin immersed in nature with the love of her life and two tiny dogs. She embraces life through reading, writing, painting, yoga, meditating, and waterfall chasing.