Staff Profiles

Community Connections employs over 300 professionals and paraprofessionals dedicated to delivering a wide range of services to consumers in both the District of Columbia and in Maryland. Staff have expertise in the treatment of mental illness, homeless services, trauma and recovery, HIV/AIDs and many other related areas of care. Profiles of members of the Management Team are presented below.

Maxine Harris, Ph.D.

Maxine Harris is CEO for Clinical Affairs and Co-Founder of Community Connections. She is also the Executive Director of The National Capital Center for Trauma Recovery and Empowerment. In the past several years, Community Connections has specialized in treating women, trauma survivors, homeless persons, and substance abusers. Dr. Harris, in collaboration with investigators from Dartmouth Medical School, has been co-investigator on federally funded grants to study homeless women, substance-addicted homeless persons, and to implement vocational services for persons with serious mental illness. Dr. Harris is author of numerous articles and several books including "Trauma Recovery and Empowerment: A Clinician's Guide to Working with Women in Groups" (The Free Press, Fall 1998), co-author of "Healing the Trauma of Abuse: A Woman's Workbook" (New Harbinger Publishers, 2000), and contributing author and co-editor (with Roger D. Fallot) of Using Trauma Theory to Design Service Systems, New Directions for Mental Health Services #89 (Jossey-Bass, Spring 2001). Most recently Dr. Harris authored a collection of fables inspired by the stories of women with whom she has worked. The Twenty-four Carat Buddha and Other Fables: Stories of Self Discovery is available through Community Connections, Amazon.com and the Sidran Institute, the publisher.

Helen C. Bergman, MSW

Helen C. Bergman, MSW is a Co-Founder and CEO for Administration of Community Connections. Ms. Bergman has over 30 years experience in administration and health policy. In addition to her responsibilities administering a large, non-profit agency, Ms. Bergman also helped found Cornerstone, Inc., a non-profit housing finance agency that provides grants and loans to purchase and rehabilitate affordable housing for special populations. She Ms. Bergman has taught at the University of Maryland School of Social Work and sat on several community oriented not for profit boards. For many years, Ms. Bergman was president of the District of Columbia Behavioral Healthcare Association. In collaboration with Dr. Harris, she has published in professional journals and has consulted extensively on the development of community-based systems of care, including the development of supportive housing for persons with disabilities.

Roger D. Fallot, Ph.D.

Roger D. Fallot, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and Director of Research and Evaluation at Community Connections. A graduate of Yale University (B.A., M.S., and Ph.D.), his professional areas of specialization include the development and evaluation of services for trauma survivors and the role of spirituality in recovery. The author of numerous clinical and research articles, he is a contributing author and co-editor (with Maxine Harris) of Using Trauma Theory to Design Service Systems (Jossey-Bass, 2001) and consults widely on the implementation of trauma-informed services. A founding Board Member of the National Trauma Consortium, Dr. Fallot was Principal Investigator on the District of Columbia Trauma Collaboration Study, a federally-funded research project examining the effectiveness of integrated services for women trauma survivors with mental health and substance abuse problems (1998-2004). He and a group of clinicians at Community Connections have developed a men’s version (M-TREM) of the Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM), a manualized group intervention for working with survivors of physical and sexual abuse. The effectiveness of both TREM and M-TREM is currently being examined in separate NIMH-funded projects. Dr. Fallot is also interested in the relationships between spirituality, recovery, and well-being; he edited and contributed chapters to Spirituality and Religion in Recovery from Mental Illness (Jossey-Bass, 1998).

Richard Bebout, Ph.D.

Richard Bebout, Ph.D., earned his doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1987 and has been affiliated with Community Connections since that time. At Community Connections he is an Associate Clinical Director and directs all housing-based clinical support programs. Dr. Bebout has also served as project director on several federal projects, including the “Creating Communities” grant currently being funded by SAMHSA as part of the Services in Supportive Housing initiative. Dr. Bebout has contributed more than 20 articles and book chapters on mental health services and frequently trains and consults in the areas of supportive housing, trauma-informed care, and MTREM, a group approach for addressing the impact of traumatic violence in men’s lives. Dr Bebout also maintains a private therapy practice in Washington, DC.

Karen M. Singleton, MS, LPC

Ms. Singleton is a Licensed Professional Counselor and an Associate Director of Administration under the direct supervision of CEO of Administration Helen Bergman. She has been with Community Connections since 1998 and held previous positions as Director of Quality Improvement, Trauma Clinician and Educator, and Adult Services Case Manager. In her current position she is responsible for the Quality Improvement/Utilization Management Department, Medical Records Department, and Psychotherapy Services.

Ms. Singleton has 17 years experience in the mental health/human services field including experiences in: psychiatric inpatient/acute care, CPEP crisis services, youth counseling, homeless and emergency residential services and substance abuse treatment. She has a Master of Science in Counseling from the State University of New York and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Roanoke College in Virginia.

Joseph Cullinan

Joseph Cullinan is an Associate Director of Administration at Community Connections. Mr. Cullinan has a wide range of experience in various fields. After several years in retail management, Mr. Cullinan earned a B.S. in Education and taught high school for eight years. Following this he spent six years studying Theology at the Washington Theological Union and performed internships as chaplain at the George Washington University and at the at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC. Joining Community Connections in 2000, Mr. Cullinan has served in the role of case manager, Clinical Supervisor, M.I.S. Manager, and as Manager of the Psychiatric Medication Clinic program. In his role as Associate Director he continues direct oversight of the Medication Clinic and the Practice Management Software (Anasazi). His other responsibilities include the physical plant, fleet management and oversight of clerical staff.

David Freeman

David Freeman, a licensed clinical psychologist, has been at Community Connections for 17 years. Now the Associate Director for community support, David started at Community Connections as a case manager. He has since been team leader or project director for projects that focus on consumer empowerment, trauma recovery, homelessness, addictions, de-institutionalization, mental health recovery and justice system involvement. David is currently the Project Director for the SAMHSA funded Options Plus project that helps find housing for people who struggle with the multiple problems of homelessness, mental illness, addiction and criminal justice charges.

David has consulted nationally on issues of men’s trauma recovery, dual diagnosis, and the criminal justice-mental health interface. He has half a dozen publications.

Prior to coming to Community Connections, David worked in a range of mental health settings and with homeless youth. All together, he has 30 years experience providing mental health and social services. He maintains a private practice in Chevy Chase MD.

Jack Kline

Jack Kline graduated from American University in 1975 with a degree in political science. He obtained an MSW from the University of Maryland in 1988 and is currently a licensed clinical social worker in both DC and Maryland. Mr. Kline has worked with mentally ill adults including dual disorder adults, homeless populations and women in recovery from substance use for the past twenty five years. Jack began working at Community Connections in 1987 as a case manager/clinical supervisor and has held a variety of positions since then including program director for substance abuse treatment, recruitment coordinator, program director for supported employment and currently Associate Director. He has participated at CC in numerous research projects through SAMHSA and the Psychiatric Research Center at Dartmouth. Currenlty he is assisting to implement the current West Foundation Dual Disorder Study at CC. He has published a number of articles on the community-based treatment of mentally ill adults.

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