Addiction Treatment Center Staff

At Fresh Start Recovery Center, each staff member brings a combination of education, training, professional certifications, and hands-on experience. We approach treatment from a variety of disciplines and therapeutic modalities, allowing us to create a truly comprehensive, individualized treatment plan.

Many of our staff members are in recovery themselves, and are excited to share the fulfillment they have found with you. We are real people in recovery, we have been where you are, and we are excited to help each individual find long term recovery.

Patricia Earnest, BS, CAC-AD

Primary Therapist

What is your mission at Fresh Start Recovery?

I find ways of coordinating my work with my personal experience. My skills include but are not limited to the following types of therapy: Group, Individual, Family, Solution-Focused, Cognitive-Behavioral, Motivational Interviewing, as well as Talk Therapy. It’s crucial for me to meet the client where they are from the minute they walk in the door with the realization that they are suffering physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I have been a part of the recovery community for over 23 years.

What makes Fresh Start stand out from other treatment centers?

The staff at Fresh Start is genuinely caring. Everyone is experienced on a professional and personal level. When clients come to treatment, they are unsure of themselves and others. The program and staff at Fresh Start allow for a safe and communicative environment.

What is the most rewarding part of your work at Fresh Start?

Fresh Start offers a holistic approach to treatment which is aligned with what I believe can be a rewarding and effective experience in this process. Additionally, there can be great power in group and talk therapy. Witnessing clients gain insight and heal to move forward in their potential long term recovery is an incredibly rewarding experience.

Marium Parveen, MD, MS

Medical Director

Marium Parveen, MD, MA, Medical Director at Fresh Start Recovery Center (FSRC), has 22 years of experience working in inpatient and outpatient settings as well as providing consultation services. Dr. Parveen trained in the Psychiatry and Neurology Residency Program of Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC, and is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Parveen brings to the team sound knowledge of psychiatric diseases, vast clinical experience working with emotionally challenged patients with co-occurring addiction problems, as well as years of experience in leadership and education. She is caring, compassionate, and ready to meet patients where the needs are.

What is your mission at Fresh Start Recovery Center?

My mission is to treat patients who are suffering from mental health and co-occurring substance use disorders or other causes, and place them in better health status. My goal is to provide patients with tools they can use to free themselves from addictive drugs, increase their insight, and make them productive and valuable members of society. I believe in working in a multi-disciplinary team, harnessing strengths of a diverse group of individuals of the treatment team that exists at the FSRC. I believe in treating patients with psychotherapy and use pharmacological interventions appropriate to their medical and mental health needs as well as engage their social supports.

What makes Fresh Start Recovery Center stand out?

I believe in FSRS’s policy of treating patients with the aim of freeing them totally and completely of drugs that are responsible for their addiction and mental health problem. FSRS stands out as a treatment facility because it is a total and absolute abstinence-based program, meaning not relying on any drugs with any addiction potential. FSRC offers patients’ ways to gradual reentry to society through different programs tailored to individual patient needs.

Most rewarding part of working at Fresh Start Recovery Center?

It is professionally gratifying for me to evaluate new patients knowing these individuals want to pursue abstinence. I admire their enormous inner strength and willingness to come to our program knowing that they will not be prescribed any controlled substances or addictive medication to treat their primary addiction. It is also rewarding to have multi-disciplinary support of great professionals that FSRC provides.

Viktoriya Karakcheyeva, LCPC-LS

Clinical Director

Our clinical director at Fresh Start, Viktoriya Karakcheyeva, is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, a licensed clinical alcohol and drug supervisor as well as a certified clinical supervisor in the state of Maryland. Viktoriya also brings her 17 years of experience working in the mental health and substance abuse treatment fields. She has served in both clinical and leadership positions in a number of roles, in inpatient and outpatient settings, and as a program director, clinical supervisor, government contractor and consultant, among other positions.

What is your mission at Fresh Start?

I want people to be in a better place, emotionally, cognitively, spiritually. When a client comes through our doors, they are starting from what might not be a good place, but the journey evolves. In the end, I hope each individual has learned about themselves and the world around them, as well as developing coping skills and becoming a better person, ending in a better place.

What makes Fresh Start stand out?

The outdoors, recreation, and art therapies we offer. We believe that gradual, safe exposure to healthy leisure activities is beneficial to clients as they build the necessary skills to live clean and sober, not engage substance abuse, and begin to have meaningful experience without drugs or alcohol.

What is the most rewarding part of working at Fresh Start?

The best part of my job is putting smiles on my clients’ faces and helping them believe in themselves, evolve and rediscover their lives’ meaning and purpose in recovery. I bring lollipops, colorful fuzzy balls, smells, sights and sounds to help my clients realize there is a sense of urgency in turning their lives around for the better and they can always choose to have a better moment… hour… day… week… life… NOW!

Kabir Singh

Chief Executive Officer

Kabir Singh is our Chief Executive Officer and a founder of Fresh Start. A lifelong Montgomery County resident, Kabir attended the University of Maryland at College Park, graduating in 1999. After getting clean in 2009, Kabir began seeking out avenues that would enable him to give back and help others.

In 2013, Kabir was one of the first Certified Peer Recovery Specialists in the state of Maryland, which served as his entry point into substance abuse treatment. He worked with several organizations and nonprofits, first running groups at homeless shelters and outpatient centers in Montgomery County, before joining an Assertive Community Treatment Team, continuing his work as a peer specialist. Kabir moved into the role of Chief Operating Officer for Amatus Health in the Mid-Atlantic, providing oversight for all facilities in the Maryland area.

Kabir continues to be involved in local non-profits and with local governments as a representative of both a member of the community and a person in recovery, including Mike’s Place, a recovery residence in Rockville, and Montgomery County’s Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Council.

Federico Douglas, ADT

Alcohol and Drug Trainee Counselor

Federico is one of our group therapists at Fresh Start Recovery Center. He combines his training with his 28 years of experience in the field of substance abuse treatment to facilitate group therapy sessions.

What makes Fresh Start stand out?

The fact that we are a facility that stands on complete abstinence from all substances, including pain management.

The most rewarding part of working at Fresh Start:

To see former clients adopt the entire concept of staying clean, living clean and sober. As well as seeing them years later, still living clean.

Gage Theodore

Director of Operations

What is your mission at Fresh Start?

My mission is to ensure that all clients that come through our doors here at Fresh Start Recovery Center receive a treatment plan tailored to their needs. Meeting our clients where they are in life, focusing on their strengths, and finding solutions to help them live a long productive life in recovery.

What makes Fresh Start stand out?

What makes Fresh Start stand out is that we have a heavy presence in the local recovery community and our community as a whole. The majority of our staff are people in recovery themselves, which we believe allows us to connect with our clients on a personal level so we can best meet their needs.

What is the most rewarding part of working at Fresh Start?

The most rewarding part of working at Fresh Start is seeing someone come to life during their stay here. The majority of our clients come here beaten, broken and a shell of a human being. By the time they leave they have regained their confidence, set goals and are ready to live a productive life in recovery. Witnessing that amazing change in someone is definitely the greatest part about working at Fresh Start.

Matt Paris

Outreach Coordinator

What is your mission at Fresh Start?

My mission at Fresh Start is to help build the recovery community locally here in Gaithersburg. I want to help people find treatment and find success in achieving long term recovery. I hope to serve my local community and surrounding counties by bringing awareness to this disease and rebuilding the lives of families who are struggling.

What makes Fresh Start stand out?

Fresh Start Recovery Center stands out to me because of the loving and caring staff. Having worked at other treatment facilities, I feel we are most fortunate to have amazing people who work hard every day to help someone else. By truly caring and supporting those who need it the most, we see success in people who have been defeated for so many years.

What is the most rewarding part of working at Fresh Start?

The most rewarding part of working for Fresh Start is getting the opportunity to see someone’s light turn back on. Watching people come in so broken and hopeless and leaving full of light and love, is a blessing. The gift of someone in early recovery finding happiness is the greatest reward anyone can receive.