Program Instructors
All of our programs incorporate class instruction by professional speakers from throughout Orange County.
Orange County Sheriff Department Deputies
Mission Hospital - Emergency & Trauma Room Nurse
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists
Orange County District Attorney
PETER HILEN,LMFT
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Clinical Facilitator
Peter Hilen, MA graduated from Alliant international University in 2005 with a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy. Since graduating he has specialized in the field on Adolescent and family chemical dependency. Pete has worked in a variety of setting within both the substance abuse and mental health field since 2005. Pete managed the Adult and adolescent detox and the geriatric psychiatric unit at Chapman Medical Center, where he began working as an adolescent Counselor and family Therapist in 2005. He worked as a Drug and Alcohol Therapist at the Adult Detox and Inpatient Program at Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach. In 2007 Pete was an adjunct professor at Saddleback College in the Health and Human Services department teaching the Crisis Intervention Seminar and Practicum Site seminar. Since he has maintained a Private Practice in Orange County and has collaborated with California youth Services in a variety of settings including Case Manager and his current role as Therapist and Clinical Facilitator. Pete is currently the Program Administrator for the Adult Crisis Residential Program in Orange.
BRIAN NISSEN
Orange County Sheriff's Deputy (Ret.)
Drug Recognition Expert
Brian Nissen joined the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in 1996 and retired in 2014. He is very well recognized and decorated in the field and is often credited as a leader and mentor among his colleagues. He was awarded the distinguished Metal of Merit by the Sheriff’s Department in 2010 for his integral part in the development of a one-of-a-kind, fully functional courtroom (CJ-1) within the Central Men’s Jail. The court facility is capable of processing 350 cases daily and has gained notoriety and praise from the Superior Court, the District Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, and the Board of Supervisors. In addition to leading the operations within CJ-1, Brian is a drug recognition expert for the department and for the past 12 years has been one of the primary instructors at the Orange County Sheriff’s Training Academy teaching courses on jail procedures, weapons and contraband, street drug trends and narcotics, etc.
Brian has been an integral part of California Youth Services for over ten years. In 2002 he founded our Decisions Legal Awareness Program which impacts over 150 adolescents and their parents every year by providing them with reality based education regarding the legal consequences of their behaviors and decision making and examples of how those consequences will impact their family and their future. For his innovative ideas in the development of the Decisions program he earned a nomination for Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 by the Orange County Business Journal. Brian provides valuable program instruction at our Juvenile Alcohol & Drug Education (JADE) Program, our Collegiate Drug and Alcohol Program (CDAP), and is a frequent guest speaker throughout the county at various middle schools, high schools, and community forums providing parent education regarding substance use/abuse and local drug trends among adolescents. Brian’s professionalism, dedication, ambition, and motivation to educate and help others are evident in all of his endeavors. He is a valuable asset to CYS and its mission and we are extremely proud, fortunate, and grateful to work in collaboration with a professional that continually displays a high level of passion, consideration, and expertise.
Parent Impact Speakers
The incorporation of parent impact speakers is just one of the many things that sets CYS apart. An integral part of many of our programs involves parents that share their personal stories of struggle and ways they have coped with a child struggling with addiction and/or the passing of a child as a result of drug abuse. Each parent has a very different story but all with a common theme: a life taken too soon and a family forever changed.
GIL & FLO MULHERE
After we lost our son Kevin to a drug overdose on February 2, 2003 , we sought ways that we could help other parents and adolescents deal with the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. Although this has been a very difficult journey , we have been immensely rewarded by the opportunity to be part of California Youth Services (CYS). We do this to help prevent the pain, destruction, lost potential and even death, that substance abuse and delinquent behavior may invariably bring to a youth and their family. We know that we are making a difference in many lives . This is our commitment to work with CYS in memory of our precious son Kevin who we love and miss so much.
DAVID HUNGERFORD
Since we lost Shanon to a drug overdose the sense of loss and sadness we feel is beyond words. How could such a beautiful, bright and popular young girl fall victim to drug abuse? Her tragic story illustrates that no young person is safe from the potential destruction of drug abuse. Upon her death I made a vow that Shanon would not just be buried and forgotten. I knew that her life had meaning and her life had a purpose. I felt that if her story could help other young people her short life on this earth would have a positive lasting legacy. Since becoming involved in CYS I have spoken to many young people and their parents. I know in my heart that Shanon and I are helping save other young lives and she is proud of the work we are doing together.
Survivor Stories Impact Speakers
There are many misconceptions regarding drug and/or alcohol overdose and one goal of our Survivor Story Impact Speakers is to demonstrate that overdose does not always result in death. Our speakers share their personal stories of poor decision making, drug & alcohol use, overdose, and ongoing recovery. Each with a different story, they openly share about their personal struggles with overdose and rehabilitation while placing a large emphasis on the fact that it only takes one poor decision to change the course of your own life and those around you.
MATTHEW THOMAS
At nineteen Matt was fresh out of high school with a football scholarship to Brigham Young University (BYU). He was living on his own, and living the dream with a job at Candid Camera. In 1991, he made the decision that landed him in in critical condition in coma and left with just a 5% chance of living. Matt spent three months in a coma and approximately four months in the hospital. Matt’s recovery was tedious and he spent 12 months in an in-house head injury program near Northridge Hospital called the TGI Care House. At the time, he still could not read, write, shave, shower, or dress on his own. These were all skills that he had to re-teach himself.
Matt became an advocate for not only the consequences of intoxicated driving, but also the support that disabled people need in order to improve their quality of life. Matt enjoys giving presentations about the consequences of drinking and driving at several of our programs and trying to get through to people before they could potentially make the same mistakes he did. Matt's story touches the hearts of those around him as his amazing presentation is filled with a level of caring and compassion for traumatic brain injury victims that only one who has lived through the experience can provide. In 2011, Matt decided to put together Positive Matters, a foundation that encourages disabled people to physically push their abilities further through recreation.
BYRON REMEYER
On August 2, 2013 Byron was a passenger in an auto versus tree accident. He was in the car with a drunk driver and they had run into a tree driving down Crown Valley in Laguna Niguel. When the paramedics came to the scene both the driver and Byron were unconscious and the car was wrapped around the tree on the passenger side. Byron sustained multiple brain injuries, an occipital bone fracture, and a right clavicular fracture. Byron has always been extremely musically inclined. The bleeding Byron sustained to the temporal lobe of the brain (the portion of the brain in charge of sound and music recognition) has had serious long-term implications. Since there was additional bleeding on the left side of the basal ganglia, the right side of his body has suffered levels of paralysis. Physical therapy over the years has started working but it has been a long and difficult road; one that has affected him and his whole family.