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About

The Sobering Center Contributes to a Safe Community

Founded in 2018, the Sobering Center was built with the intent of providing the community with a safe place to recover from intoxication in lieu of the jail or the emergency room and to then be referred to community based resources as needed. Today, we have provided this service to over 7,000 individuals, and continue to evolve our services to meet the needs of our community. Our clients reflect the Austin/Travis County community in that we are regularly providing sobering services and brief interventions for college students, festival goers, partakers of downtown entertainment, and the chronically homeless. All are welcome and our staff will work to individualize the intervention.

Board of Directors

Christopher Ziebell, MD

BOARD CHAIR

Director of Health and Innovation at Dell Seton Medical Center

Jessica Palvino

VICE CHAIR

Attorney at Jackson Walker

Hon. Selena Alvarenga

BOARD SECRETARY

Judge to the 460th Criminal District Court

Anwar Sophy

BOARD TREASURER

Administrator, Business Management for Texas Department of Agriculture

Jana Ortega, JD

PAST CHAIR

Sole practitioner and founder of OrtegaLaw, PLLC

Hon. Josè “Chito” Vela

Austin City Council Member, District 4

Hon. Margaret Gomez

Commissioner, Travis County Precinct 4

Jimmy Anderson

Legislative Affairs Coordinator at Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

Hon. Larry Wallace Jr., Ph.D.

Board Chair for the Black Men’s Health Clinic

Ana Marie Cox

Sober Questioning columnist for “The Cut”

Chad Hooten, MD

Chief of Emergency Psychiatry at Dell Seton Medical Center

Ex-Officio Members

Bruce Mills

Designee for Interim City Manager Jesús Garza

Robert Luckritz

Chief of Austin-Travis County EMS

Eric Miesse

Designee for Interim Chief of Police Robin Henderson

Adrienne Sturrup

Director of Austin Public Health Department

Sally Hernandez

Travis County Sheriff

Vicki Ashley

Designee for Travis County Judge Andy Brown

Staff Leadership

Laura Elmore, LMSW-AP

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Camille Atkins, MBA

Director of Finance & Operations

Christine Hassall, LCDC

Director of Programs

Ashlyn Branscum

Development & Communications Manager

Government & Community Partners