PPW Advisory Board

Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) has an Advisory Board to provide critical intellectual, creative and social capital to advance the mission of Prevention Plus Wellness, LLC.  A description of current Board Members is shown below.   

Chudley Werch, PhD, CEO and Founder

Dr. Chudley Werch was raised in rural Wisconsin where he experienced alcohol and drug misuse throughout his formative years.  He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983 and began his career in addictions prevention, education, research and training.  He has held several tenured academic positions and retired to found Prevention Plus Wellness, LLC where he serves as CEO.  Dr. Werch created four nationally recognized evidence-based substance use programs and a wide range of evidence-informed prevention programs and campaigns that promote healthy lifestyle behaviors among youth and young adults. He lives in St. Augustine, Florida with Lauren, his wife of 39 years, and has three adult children.   

Christine Cavallucci

Heather Drahota

Heather Drahota is a Health and Safety Programs Manager at Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department in Northeast Nebraska. She has been involved in substance abuse prevention programs since 2011 as a coordinator and then as a supervisor. Heather also supervises other health and wellness programs and provides input to other programs. She is part of a five-person managerial team that manages the health departments day-to-day operations.

Amy McKown

Amy is employed as a clinician through a substance abuse outpatient counseling agency and have been working with that agency for over three years. I have my Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant licensure, as well as licensure for Registered Applicant which allows me to provide prevention services. The greatest portion of services I provide is non-intensive outpatient counseling treatment to adults with substance abuse issues. We also provide prevention services to local youth and grade schools. I have been providing prevention services to the school and youth for about three years and became certified to provide the evidence-based program Vaping PPW to elementary, middle, and high school students. This program allowed us to provide brief intervention strategies to help adolescents develop healthy habits and avoiding use of vaping, as well as other substances, in a quick and effective presentation. We have implemented this program to both of our local schools and worked with third, sixth, and ninth grade students. As COVID-19 impacted in person services, this program allowed us to reach our students and youth as needed with online services to be able to continue reaching students with prevention services. I am always gaining more experience and knowledge through working with a variety of age groups and the different services we continue expanding to reach all populations. 

Barry T. Schmidt, MPH, MS, CPC-R

Barry is a substance abuse Prevention Consultant and Project Director with the Neighborhood Resource Center and the Project Coordinator for the Bay County Prevention Network. Over the past 30 years, Barry has worked with communities, youth and parents on issues affecting health and quality of life. He is responsible for assessing, planning, and implementing a wide array of programs in the arena of substance abuse prevention. Barry is a graduate of Bay City Central High School, possesses a bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences and Community Development, has a master’s degree in Public Health from Walden University, Master’s Degree in health Promotion Management from Nebraska Methodist College and has been a Prevention Consultant for 20 years. In his free time, he spends time with his wife and twenty-five-year-old son and is actively involved in his church.