Steve Forzato
Director
Center for Addiction and Recovery Education (CARE)
Forzato began his law enforcement career at the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office in 1986. In 1992, Forzato transferred to the Narcotic Enforcement Team and for the next 27 years, worked in undercover roles and investigated drug traffickers, pursuing them locally, nationally and internationally. As a Lieutenant, Forzato supervised undercover detectives and 480 local police officers who served in a drug task force. Forzato led more than 100 wiretaps where his team seized thousands of pounds of drugs including kilograms of heroin and fentanyl. Forzato was sworn-in as a federal agent in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. In 2017, Forzato joined Pennsylvania’s Attorney General as Deputy Chief of Statewide Drug Initiatives where he led new initiatives addressing the drug overdose crisis in Pennsylvania.
Forzato testified as an expert in drug abuse, trafficking, and wiretapping in local, state and federal courts. Forzato has interviewed hundreds of drug dealers, suppliers and users. Forzato remains up to date on the current drug-trafficking trends statewide, nationally, and internationally.
Forzato trained thousands of local, state and federal law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and public health officials. Forzato now directs the Center for Addiction and Recovery Education at Saint Joseph’s University and leads its Phoenix Training for first responders.
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Director
Center for Addiction and Recovery Education (CARE)
John Becker
Founder
Guardian Recovery Services
John Becker Jr. has experience as a police officer, clinician, outreach professional, program developer and director. John possesses a personal understanding of substance abuse among first responders, having overcome addiction in his own life. He is the founder of Guardian Recovery Services, a private practice that provides counseling to First Responders struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues. John holds a B.S. in Behavioral Health Counseling and a Master’s in Human Services. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and has obtained Certification as an Advanced Alcohol & Drug Counselor (CAADC). He is the Clinical Director of the Montgomery County (PA) Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team and is certified by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) in individual and group interventions. John is a Certified Trauma Responder (CTR) and is recognized as a Certified Employee Assistance Professional (CEAP) and Substance Abuse Professional (SAP). John regularly provides training, education and consultation to local, state and federal organizations throughout the United States, on topics such as stress, trauma, wellness, mental health, suicide, and substance abuse, with a focus on members of the first responder community.
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Founder
Guardian Recovery Services
Bryan McCauley
Program Coordinator
First Responder Addiction Treatment (FRAT)
Bryan McCauley is the Program Coordinator for the First Responders Addiction Treatment (FRAT) Program at Livengrin Foundation, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Bensalem, PA. Bryan is a Marine Corps Veteran, a former firefighter, and served as a police officer/ detective in Montgomery County and Philadelphia for twenty years. Much like the veterans and emergency responders he works with, he had to overcome his own alcoholism and engage in recovery. He has been sober and working with others since September 2010. Bryan is continuing his education, attending Alvernia University in the Addictions and Mental Health program. His passion lies in educating and helping others to understand and overcome the disease of addiction.
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Program Coordinator
First Responder Addiction Treatment (FRAT)
Mike Yaeger
Retired Battalion Chief
Philadelphia Fire Department
Mike Yaeger retired several years ago as a Battalion Chief with the Philadelphia Fire Dept. (41 years). He spent most of his time as a firefighter in north Philly. After getting promoted to Lieutenant in 1989 Mike was sent to west Philly where he spent the next few years. Promoted to Captain in 1994 and spent the next 15 years in the rank. During that time Mike had the honor of being Captain at Rescue 1, which he found to be a truly humbling experience. Mike was promoted to BC in Aug of 2008. After recognizing the increasing amount of suicides in the fire service he got involved with developing and delivering a suicide prevention initiative in the PFD. Mike began working with Local 22’s health and wellness program and assisted in developing a peer support program. He started working with first responders at the Livengrin Foundation’s FRAT program (drug and alcohol rehab). They developed a drug and alcohol prevention program and delivered that program to over 20,000 first responders. From the peer program they have visited all station in the PFD to discuss trauma, PTSD and other related issues with first responders. They are also involved with presenting the peer program to all cadets in the PFD.
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Retired Battalion Chief
Philadelphia Fire Department
Bill Burdette
Retired K9 Section Supervisor
Pennsylvania State Police
William J Burdette is currently a consultant with Saint Joseph's University, Center for Addiction and Recovery Education Center.
Burdette Served 25 years with the Pennsylvania State Police. He started in patrol, transitioning to Troop Vice and PSP Drug Strike Force, criminal Investigation and State Fire Marshal. He spent 11 years as Supervisor of the Eastern K-9 Section. He was sworn in as a Federal Task Force Officer assigned to a DEA HIDTA interdiction team.
After retiring, Burdette remained active in law enforcement serving a local university, and as a sworn police officer with local school districts.
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Retired K9 Section Supervisor
Pennsylvania State Police
Chuck Ondo
Retired Corporal
Pennsylvania State Police
Chuck Ondo describes himself as “a Patriotic, God-loving man that has served his Country and Commonwealth as a U.S. Marine and Pennsylvania State Trooper for a combined total of 16 years.” His service included being an Ammunition Specialist and EOD Technician in the Corps and his State Police career included Uniform Trooper, FTO, Firearms Instructor, OC Instructor, Undercover Detective with Troop K Vice, and a Sniper on the State Police SERT Team. He retired as a Corporal from PSP in 1999. Since then, he has over a decade of experience in working with various organizations such as, AA, NA, Celebrate Recovery and was recently nominated for a National Excellence Award for the Pennsylvania Veterans Leadership Program. He is a founding member of Revival Today Veterans Brigade where he has worked closely with Veterans coming out of Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Treatment. In his spare time, he owns and operates a barbershop called Valor Men's Grooming in Pittsburgh and also enjoys taking part in a number of movies, shows and TV series that are filmed locally. He has been featured in background and stunt work on Netflix, Showtime, CBS, Paramount and Apple TV. He has been a Consultant with the CARE since September 2022.
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Retired Corporal
Pennsylvania State Police
Chuck Pugh
Corrections Officer
York County Prison
Chuck Pugh is a veteran Corrections Officer with over 24 years serving at the York County Prison in South Central Pennsylvania. He started his service in 1998. He has been an adjunct instructor to in-service staff and new cadets in York’s Basic Training Academy since 2011. Chuck has trained other staff from various corrections locations to be Firearms Instructors for PA DOC. He has instructed 30 individual modules of training courses ranging from Firearms to Stress Management. Chuck is passionate about bettering the tools and equipment for his fellow officers through innovative ideas. He has co-founded the York County Prison Honor Guard and during his tenure was the Assistant Team Leader where he utilized his attention to detail in meticulously training the unit along with exemplifying the core values. Chuck has experienced multiple traumas in his career and personal life which resulted in him seeking counseling and a regular weekly support group to get to the root of his own additive behaviors. He is an advocate for his fellow corrections officers in their search for healing.
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Corrections Officer
York County Prison
