Welcome to Support 4 Recovery

Tom Aswad has been a resident of Contra Costa County for over
fifty years. He has been a property manager and owner for thirty-one
years and currently owns his own investment company. He went
through a twenty- eight day residential program eighteen years ago
at Mt. Diablo hospital in Concord and has been clean since then.

He has been a community volunteer for over fourteen years and
served on the Contra Costa Alcohol and Other drugs Advisory Board
appointed by the County Board of Supervisors from 1992 to 2007. He has served as both Chair or Vice- Chair for a combined time of almost nine years.

Tom has sat on many community based Committees and Boards including the Little
Hoover Commission in Sacramento. He has been invited to Washington D.C. by the
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment to facilitate a workshop on ensuring that the
grassroots voice is heard.

He served as State and National liaison for Partners in Recovery Alliance of Contra Costa
County which was a grassroots organization to train its members on the power of the
voice of recovery when it comes to advocating for local politics that effect treatment and
prevention. Tom has been successful with his local advocacy that has lead to many
changes within the Alcohol and Other Drugs system. He has also been recognized by the
PTA and the California Alcohol and drug Program Administrators Association of California
for the re-introduction of Narcotics Anonymous of Contra Costa County within the local jail
system. He is also the founder of the Sober Living Task Force of Contra Costa County.

Tom’s commitment has always been to serve those who do not have or feel that they
have an important voice and expertise to share with local politicians. Recently he has
seen the need for a support system for people in recovery and the need for their voice
to be heard. That is why he has co-founded Support4Recovery.

Judy Bastin, CATC, RYT is experienced with many phases of business from start-ups
through a multinational corporation and has held different positions
at a Fortune 500 company for over 30 years. She has successfully
launched startup businesses, owned a small business, and has been an advisor to and board member of start-up companies and non-profits.

Wanting to change careers, Judy graduated with a counseling
certificate in Addiction Studies from Diablo Valley College in
Pleasant Hill, Ca. in 2007 and has been a certified Yoga teacher since 2006.

She currently works as a Program Counselor for John Muir Behavioral Health. She also serves as a volunteer counselor for a drug treatment program in San Quentin Prison. Judy is currently continuing her studies to further her education in Psychology.

Support 4 Recovery is an excellent platform for the the Recovery Community to have a
voice. Judy is dedicated to helping that voice be heard. She can be contacted at judy@support4recovery.org.

Nina Ferraris, M.A., MFT

As the Program Director for John Muir Behavioral Center for Recovery, Nina has the opportunity to work in a medical model setting with a population that struggles with addiction and thrives in recovery. Her passion extends to her work with San Quentin Inmates where she trained those individuals to be Chemical Dependency Counselors and participated in the development of a Treatment Program within the prison walls where the inmates are the counselors. This not only provides the inmates with employment and addiction support while in prison, but it provides these counselors with a valuable State Board Certifications for when they reenter into our community.

Nina is also a Marriage and Family Therapist and has a private practice where she works with individuals, couples and families in addictions and recovery.

Lastly, Nina is an adjunct professor at JFK University Graduate School of Psychology where she teaches in the Addictions tract.

Nina is a long term resident of Contra Costa County and interested in promoting the awareness of and reducing the stigma of addiction, while securing programs to support this disease in our community.