Meet Our Team

THE RECOVERY CAFÉ MUNCIE TEAM

There are many people – staff, interns, committee members & volunteers – who

make the work of the Recovery Café Muncie possible.

Christene Dillard | Director, Recovery Café Muncie

Contact: christene.dillard@webloom.org

Christene is a Muncie native with two children. She attended Indiana Wesleyan University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science and Addiction Counseling. Christene is excited to bring her educational experience to Recovery Café Muncie.

Christene began her journey to learn more about the effects of drugs and alcohol addiction because of family and friends. She is a firm believer that all of us are in recovery from some challenging issue. Her personal road to recovery began with addressing depression, family trauma, neglect, and low self-esteem. She often wondered why the loved ones in her life chose the euphoria of their addiction over her, and these personal experiences played a large part in her early development. She never had a desire to use or abuse, but wants to encourage others to see life as positive without using drugs and alcohol.

Christene witnessed drugs in her home at an early age, and this experience profoundly impacted her well-being. Addiction temporarily took her best friend, her protector, her provider, her big brother, and her heart out of her life. She learned firsthand that addiction can devour an individual and a family. These challenges are why Christene is so excited to be a part of the Recovery Café Muncie team. She wants to encourage anyone who wants someone to listen to them, letting them know that they are not alone. Recovery Café Muncie will be a place of kindness and respect where people are not judged for their thoughts and feelings.

Windy Thompson | Program Coordinator

Contact: windy.thompson@webloom.org

Windy Thompson serves as the current Program Coordinator for Recovery Cafe’ Muncie.

Since 2001, she has worked in a variety of social service settings meeting the needs of diverse clients, including both long-term and brief interventions. She focuses on strength based service provision to vulnerable populations with an understanding of the complexities of family and individual growth and development.

Windy believes that change happens when individuals are given the support they need to draw on their own strengths and recognize their potential to live healthy and fulfilled lives.

As a client-centered advocate, Windy approaches both advocacy and assessment with the belief that healing is a collaborative endeavor that requires honest concern without judgment. She cooperatively assists in clarifying goals for long-term self-sufficiency.

Rather than adopting one methodology for all individuals and issues, Windy draws from a variety of methods to create a tailored approach for each individual on their recovery journey. Helping to set quantifiable goals that lead to stability and success, is what fuels her.

With a passion for supporting recovery, Windy provides an environment of compassion and understanding to individuals and families working to overcome obstacles as they move forward and thrive.

Windy is the mother of two adult children, Brianna and Casey Thompson. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice.

Lisa Roossien | Café Manager

Contact: lisa.roossien@webloom.org

Lisa recently moved to Muncie from Michigan and has enjoyed getting to know her new Hoosier community. She has a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Michigan State University, is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Addiction Consultant, and a Peer Recovery Coach. In addition to this formal training, Lisa believes her most important asset in the Recovery Café is being a fellow person in long term recovery from substance use disorder and mental health challenges.

Lisa’s believes there are many paths up the mountain of recovery, and each one is filled with both pain and beauty. She knows that recovery is a journey, and that simply being in recovery doesn’t absolve us of life’s challenges. This is what makes having a recovery community filled with love and accountability so vital to recovery success: to encourage each other to stay on the path. Lisa is honored to help Recovery Café members identify local resources, discover their own inner strength, and develop a love and connection with fellow café members, so that we can all forge our own unique paths, together.

In addition to being in recovery, Lisa is a mama to two young children and is married to a fellow person in recovery. She is living a life she once didn’t believe was possible for a person like her. She hopes to show café members that recovery is possible, one step at a time!

Recovery Café Muncie Advisory Committee

Mary Bedel

Mary has been a Muncie resident since 1971. After completing her degree at Ball State University, she made Muncie her home, where she raised two sons. Mary worked for Muncie Community Schools for 39 years, but has continued to volunteer during her retirement.

Mary has worked with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Ala-non, and she is now dedicating much of her time to Recovery Café Muncie. She has family members with challenges that have led her to working on her own recovery, and she has seen the need for an organization that supports those with recovery challenges and gives radical hospitality. These personal experiences have led Mary to begin working with Recovery Café Muncie.

Katie Bittermann

Katie is a Muncie native and MSW intern who is currently serving as Recovery Cafe Muncie's Volunteer Coordinator. She is in her second year of the Master of Social Work program at Ball State and hopes to pursue a career in program development and administration when she graduates in July of 2021.

Katie believes deeply in the mission of Recovery Cafe and the power of connection as healing. Having lost her beloved father unexpectedly at a young age, she is familiar with the impact of trauma and loss, and the grieving process that follows. She has enjoyed watching Recovery Cafe Muncie grow from an idea to reality where people can get the recovery support they need and want.

While Katie loves people, she also loves animals. Before going back to graduate school, she also worked as a farmhand at Becker Farms and Caprini Creamery. Now a days, she's only responsible for wrangling one very energetic dog named Scout. In her spare time, she also enjoys sewing, gardening, and cooking.

Melody Blair

Bio coming soon.

WaTasha Barnes Griffin

WaTasha is Chief Executive Officer of YWCA Central Indiana and has served women, children and low-resourced individuals for more than 20 years. She is a community champion, advocate, educator, and supporter. Her work centers on equity work within communities of color, sexual and domestic violence, human trafficking, and providing supportive services for individuals marginalized through a variety of systemic oppressions.

WaTasha is currently a member of the Muncie Community Schools Board of Trustees, the YWCA USA Public Policy and Advocacy Committee, League of Women voters, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Team. She is also President of the Muncie Chapter of Indiana Black Expo, Inc. She believes that “life happens, and support helps recovery last.” She is excited about Recovery Café Muncie because it is a space for friends to support friends and celebrate growth.

Beth Kreitl

Beth is passionate about uplifting communities through training, education, and access. At her core, she believes communities can be empowered when individuals harness their own authentic power. As such, she works with individuals through her counseling private practice and serves the broader local and global community as co-founder and leader of We Bloom.

For as long as she can remember, Beth has been drawn and committed to psychology, spirituality, self-growth, and deeply connecting. She wove these interests into her life from the time she was a child and has seen the fruits of pursuing a journey that focuses on interior freedom alongside outer purpose. Along the way, she has been fortunate to pursue various experiences, education, and certifications, working in the corporate, higher education, and nonprofit sectors. Beth is a licensed mental health counselor, as well as a licensed teacher of swimming and water safety. She also teaches yoga and facilitates workshops and retreats.

Laura Myers

Bio coming soon.

Bill Rogers

Bio coming soon.

Jonel Thaller

Jonel moved to Indiana in 2012 after being born and raised in New Orleans and living most of her early adulthood in Arizona. Having moved cross-country multiple times, she learned firsthand that building new relationships and social networks can be intimidating and requires significant emotional work and vulnerability. But, she also learned that friends can be found anywhere, and any place where you've built meaningful relationships can become home.

Jonel currently works as a social work professor at Ball State and is one of the co-founders of the Addictions Coalition of Delaware County (ACDC). She's excited to help launch Recovery Cafe Muncie because it's a fun way to tap into the abundant talent and energy in this community. As we heal from various social problems that have been generations in the making, progress toward our ideal community may not come right away, but we're planting the seeds, and we'll get there together.