Erik Gunderson, MD

Dr. Gunderson is the Director and Founder of the Center for Wellness and Change.

He also is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences and Department of Medicine at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine. After completing medical school, internal medicine residency, and chief residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, he entered an Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine.  He is a national Lead Mentor through the Providers Clinical Support System for Medication Assisted Treatment of opioid use disorders (https://pcssnow.org). He is a Distinguished Fellow in the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), and member in the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) and Association for Medical Eduction and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA).

Dr. Gunderson's clinical and research interests have focused on treatment of opioid use disorders, the interface between pain and substance use, integrating alcohol and other substance use disorder screening and intervention in primary care, medical education, and human behavioral psychopharmacology. Between 2003-2008, he was Medical Director of Columbia University's Buprenorphine Program, an outpatient program that specialized in the treatment of opioid use disorders.  Also during this time, he was Medical Director of Columbia's Substance Use Research Center, a human behavioral pharmacology research laboratory. In 2008, he moved to Virginia and became Director of UVA's Clinical Pharmacological Research Unit in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences. From 2008 to 2014 he was Adjunct Associate Research Scientist in the Division on Substance Abuse, Department of Psychiatry, of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has received federal funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study the effectiveness of buprenorphine treatment of opioid dependence in primary care, as well U. S. Department of Health and Human Services funding from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment to develop substance use curricula for physicians.

James Clark, MA, CSAC

Jim has served clients in a broad range of treatment settings for mental health and substance use recovery for over 25 years. 

His approach honors and values each individual recovery process. The phrase “less Judgement, more Curiosity” resonates in his engagements with clients. Counseling support sessions reflect upon those goals, and build on the strengths of the person and their natural ability to be in recovery of their true self: the innate and whole nature of the person underlying the damage caused by dependence or misuse of medications and substances. The negative effects of stigma often prevent or hamper people from seeking the help they need. 

A welcoming, and judgement free environment is provided throughout the staff at CWC.  Jim shares those values in his work at the Center. In offering understanding for the underlying dynamics of dependence he employs skill sets based on state-of-the-art practices.Jim has studied the ongoing effects of trauma, and negative life experiences. He offers skills to engage and assist recovery from that legacy. He continues to participate in academic trainings and course work.  He uses experiential trainings to bring the very latest best practices to clients. Among these Evidence -Based modalities are Relapse Prevention exercises, Motivational interviewing, and Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP). Jim has been active in his personal long-term recovery since 1985 and brings understanding and compassion to patients who seek to regain a sense of their innate strengths and capacity for living a fulfilling life, free of the negative effects of substance use. Recovery has often been described as a journey that leads a person back to their authentic self, better able to live a life that is satisfying and rewarding, free of the effects of what has delayed or stalled the journey towards a happy destiny.  

Laura Meyer, M.S.

Laura has a Masters in Counseling and a foundation in cognitive therapy.  

She is a fully trained mental health therapist and addiction counselor, and has been specializing solely in evidence-based MBI’s (mindfulness-based interventions) since her professional MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) training with Jon-Kabat Zinn in 2008.  As a former mindfulness instructor at The University of Virginia School of Medicine, she has been offering Therapeutic Mindfulness and Mindful Recovery at the Center supporting client’s alternative choices for mental and behavioral health.  

Laura helps clients be a little more playful in the recovery process. Her perspective is that human behavior can drive us to unexpected places, and as dark and painful as this may be, those same places offer us a chance to reclaim our courage, strength, beauty, and grace.

Christopher Rowley, DO

Dr. Rowley appreciates both the value of medication treatment and its limitations, understanding that the goals of each client will be unique and dynamic. It is his philosophy that the best, most sustainable outcomes require a holistic, patient-centered approach to healing; this means recognizing the biological, social, psychological, and even spiritual barriers to treatment, while simultaneously utilizing each patient’s innate strength and wisdom as a source of empowerment and transformation.

Dr. Rowley worked at the UVA office based opioid treatment (OBOT) clinic where he provided medication treatment and counseling in coordination with other clinic providers. He has treated individuals hoping to finally attain sobriety from a number of substances, including opioids, alcohol, methamphetamine, cannabis, among others. He has also helped others cut back on their use for any variety of reasons, helping create an individualized roadmap to their own specific goal.

In 2021-2022 he enrolled in the psychedelic assisted psychotherapy course offered by the Integrative Psychiatry Institute (IPI), learning the proper use of ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA as powerful therapeutic agents capable of inducing profound transformations in those with treatment-resistant psychiatric illnesses and substance use disorders. His experience helping those with substance use disorders has continually challenged the prevalent yet misguided, harmful stigma that abandons far too many people who are suffering. He recognizes the humanity in all and has learned as much from his patients as they have from him.

Mark Farrington, CNS, NP

Mark is a Nurse Practitioner with a Master’s in Psychiatric Nursing from University of Virginia and a B.S. in Nursing from Eastern Mennonite University.

For over twenty years he worked for Region Ten Community Services Board in a variety of roles. The last of which was the development and direction of the Wellness Recovery Center, a short-term, residential mental health crisis center. Subsequently he worked ten years for the Veterans Administration in out patient care. More recently, he has had a private psychotherapy practice. In these settings, he has worked with individuals experiencing severe and persistent mental illness, addiction, mood disorders, acute crisis, chronic pain, and trauma. 

During his 30-plus years of clinical practice, he has been aware of the over-reliance on psychotropic medication with serious side effects, inconsistent results, and a general absence of adequate mental health treatment. About 15 years ago, he discovered the new research using psychedelics to treat end-of-life anxiety, PTSD, addiction, and depression. He sought out training in these treatments and, in 2021, completed the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) certificate program in Psychedelic Therapy and Research, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) MDMA therapy training program. In 2021, he completed the Polaris Insight Center’s Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy Training program. 

His psychotherapeutic approach is based upon compassion, curiosity, and respect. Mark believes that we possess an internal source of wisdom that can be accessed and cultivated through psychotherapy, psychedelic medicine, and other practices linking mind, body, and spirit.  

Mark is married to Claudia Sencer, who works with the Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy program. Together they have three children and three grandchildren and enjoy a shared love of exploring the boundaries of interpersonal growth, intimacy, vulnerability, and healing. Mark enjoys music, reading, hiking, skiing, and making stained glass windows when not working.

Claudia Sencer, NP-CNM, MS

Claudia holds a Master’s Degree from Georgetown University in Nurse Midwifery, a B.S. from New York University in Nursing and a B.A. from Hamilton College in Film and Photography.

Having spent twenty years guiding women through the altered consciousness of childbirth, she had no idea how effectively she was preparing herself as a therapist for people in altered states. This became clear in her Certificate program in Psychedelic Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies and MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) MDMA training both of which she completed in 2021. Gently holding people though experiences of altered consciousness is a deeply honed skill of hers. In 2022 she completed a yearlong Professional Training Program in Compassionate Inquiry, the trauma informed therapeutic approach created by Gabor Mate, MD. Additionally she has completed specialized training in Ketamine Therapy through Rainfall Medicine.

Claudia brings years of client centered, present, responsive, trauma informed care. She has been in practice in Charlottesville for over thirty years. Currently she runs WomanCare, a private practice providing gynecology care and counseling services to women. 

Claudia will be working part time providing care to individuals within the Ketamine Assisted Therapy Program. Mark Farrington, her co-worker, has also been her husband since 1999. Together they have 3 children, 3 grandchildren and an abundance of love, learning and belief in our deep inner healer. Claudia enjoys great food, books and films and nice quiet evenings with friends and family.