Deborah Anderson, MSW

Co-Founder

As PDA’s Co-Founder, I provide a bridge between the company’s business operations and our development team’s work.

Before Pat and I founded PDA, I’d worked for years as a community organizer with people receiving services in the public mental health system. I loved helping folks use their voices, individually and collectively, to work towards a mental health system where the reality of recovery is a possibility for everyone.

These days, I feel a similar passion for our work using Pat Deegan's Recovery Approach to offer people with lived experience a variety of tools to amplify their voices as they move into the driver’s seat of their recovery journeys.

Allison Stiles, MA, LPC, CPMC-T

Chief Executive Officer

I’ve been working in the mental health field since 2002 and joined Pat Deegan & Associates (PDA) in 2011. Today, I serve as CEO, where I wear many hats - training, development, security - but at the core of everything I do is a deep passion for our mission.

Pat Deegan’s Recovery Approach has been truly transformative in my life, both personally and professionally. Having navigated my own experiences with anxiety, grief, and trauma, I know firsthand the importance of recovery-oriented care. This perspective fuels my commitment to the work we do at PDA.

One of the most meaningful parts of my role is helping peers, clinicians, and other mental health professionals discover the power of recovery-oriented practices and watching them reconnect with their own purpose and passion for this work.

Missy Rufo, MS, CPRP, CPMC-T

Director of Content and Program Development

I first discovered the power of Personal Medicine at a conference in 2007, and I was instantly hooked. I felt compelled to bring it into my work at a psychiatric rehabilitation program, and once I did, everything changed. I began to truly see the people I served, learning more about their strengths and watching them grow in confidence as they took meaningful steps forward.

Having lived with anxiety most of my life, I recognized that I had my own forms of Personal Medicine. Realizing that these were actually tools for healing fueled my passion to help others discover their own inner healer.

I love the work we do at Pat Deegan & Associates. I believe there’s a better way to deliver mental health services - one that starts with the person, not the diagnosis. That belief is at the heart of everything I do here.

Jessica Dion, CPMC

Operations Manager

As the Operations Manager at PDA, I'm responsible for bookkeeping, accounting, managing the online store, customer service, HR processes and other things that may come up! I started working here in 2012. It's been an amazing experience and opportunity working with a small group of such passionate and driven people with incredible recovery-oriented goals for the mental health system.

When I’m not working I’m spending time with my husband, stepson, three dogs and horse. I’m an avid animal lover and they play a big role in my Personal Medicine. 

John O'Brien

Software Developer

I am John and have been a Software Developer here since May 2014. CommonGround caught my attention because I can use my experience to work on something that helps people. 

I started coding as a teenager and have been doing it professionally for over 28 years. Designing and developing software is an obsession which provides a constant stream of things to learn and new challenges. 

I live in Merritt Island Florida and I enjoy all the fun things we can do near the coast and surrounded by rivers. However, my favorite sport is snow skiing.