We want to celebrate with four of our Team Members who have achieved educational milestones.  With every educational goal accomplished, the depth of Agency knowledge expertise deepens.  The Crossroads Center is committed to not only hiring the best Team Members but supporting them as they grow and expand.  

Colleen E. Kirkpatrick, JD, LL.M. -

In December 2019, Colleen Kirkpatrick graduated from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law obtaining a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Healthcare Law and Policy.  Her Master of Laws’ Thesis:  Apology Statutes – The Pathway to Uniform Disclosure of Adverse Medical Outcomes, explored the dichotomy of thought between legalizing a uniformed national standard of physician communication regarding adverse medical outcomes and the direct conflict with most healthcare company's compliance and risk management protocols, thereby leaving the patients and/or family members uniformed.

In addition to the LL.M., she focused her studies to include Healthcare Compliance.  By maximizing her study, she was able to obtain a Certificate in Healthcare Compliance and will soon sit for her CHC certification. This new credential and accomplishment broadens Colleen's scope of knowledge in many of the key areas and skill sets that she has already demonstrated in her great leadership here at The Crossroads Center.  We look forward to her enhanced demonstration and use of her expertise to support the mission and growth of our agency.  CONGRATULATIONS!

Sharon Johnson, CDCA

In October 2019, Sharon came to The Crossroads Center as a Client Accounts Representative.  Every day, Sharon checks people into the Medication Assisted Treatment Program (MAP), but for Sharon, this isn't just a job, it's part of her recovery journey.  Sharon shared that she spent 15 years in addiction to crack-cocaine.  She said, "I had everything, then I lost everything, almost including my life."  Sharon thanked Judge Burke from the drug court for allowing her to choose residential treatment in the ADAPT program rather than incarceration in 2008.  After graduating from the program in 2009 Sharon eventually was able to go back to her profession as a Medical Assistant which brought her to The Crossroads Center.

Sharon's daughter is a Licensed Social Worker with a Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant (CDCA) license.  Sharon said, "I think she went into this line of work because she couldn't help her mom through her addiction."  She is the one who encouraged Sharon to explore getting her CDCA.  Sharon spent a year learning and working through the process and finally received her CDCA certificate.  She wants to keep going and get her CDCA Phase II, which will require another year of supervised work and more education.  Sharon said, "I just want to give back what was so freely given to me."  She is excited to continue to use her experience and now her education to enhance how she serves the hundreds of clients who come to The Crossroads Center every day.  She wants her story to be a story of hope and empathy for those stuck in addiction as she was.  CONGRATULATIONS!

Daniyel Roper, Ph.D., MSN, APRN-CNP, FNB-BC -

In August 2019, The Crossroads Center Team Member Daniyel Roper received her Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Cincinnati. Her dissertation, Cultural Meanings of Health, Self-Care and Help-Seeking Among Young Black Men: A Focused Ethnography, explored the cultural meanings of health among young Black men and the effects of the intersection of race and gender on their self-care and help-seeking behaviors. Dr. Roper has disseminated her work at the state & national level and is currently working on publication.  Additionally, in January of 2020, Dr. Roper became a certified Opioid Treatment Provider which has brought immediate value to our Agency’s ability to expand the scope of service we can provide to more clients and deliver a higher level of EXCELLENCE in our Medication Assisted Treatment Program (MAP).

When asked to speak on her accomplishments, Dr. Roper responded with the following “God has blessed me with a gift to serve. He nurtured that gift by awarding me the opportunity to receive an education at the highest level obtainable so that I may serve in excellence. It is my belief that gifts are to be shared. With that, I have taken what has been planted in me to pour back into others so they may operate in their gifts. My goal is to change the narrative around the expectations of healthcare. I meet people where they are to help facilitate well-being. It is important to be a source of help not a hindrance on a client’s journey. Working at Crossroads allows me to fulfill my purpose and assist in recognizing and achieving their purpose.”  CONGRATULATIONS!

Shapree Dixon, MSW, LSW, MA -

A third-year graduate student at The University of Cincinnati in the Doctoral Clinical Psychology program, Shapree also been interning under Dr. Kathy Burlew here at The Crossroads Center.  In March of 2019, she proposed her Master's Thesis topic, "Prescription Drug Misuse Among Adolescents and How it Affects Academic Performance."  On February 12, 2020, she successfully defended her thesis achieving her Masters in Psychology in addition to the Masters in Social Work she had previously earned.  She was surprised to learn that drug use in adolescents does not necessarily correspond to alcohol use because so many teens use drugs for academic enhancement.  Her next steps include several exams and the writing of her dissertation in order to earn her Ph.D.

Shapree's professional aspirations are to work in a hospital or a prison doing assessments with individuals with severe mental illness.  Her passion for this line of work came from witnessing first-hand the stigma of mental wellness and specifically its effect on the people she loves.  Shapree said, "I want to change how the world and specifically the African American community, views mental health and decrease the stigma associated with it so that people who need help can seek it and not feel like they are being judged or looked down upon."  CONGRATULATIONS!

We value the accomplishments of all of The Crossroads Center's Team Members, what each one does that brings value to their career goals and its contribution to fulfilling the mission of our Agency.

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