Profile

Jim Brown

MA, LCMHC, LCAS

Executive Director

Child, Adolescent & Young Adult Center – Charlotte, NC

Jim Brown, MA, LCMHC, LCAS earned his Master of Arts degree in Counseling at the University of North Carolina in 1997. He has held his Licensed Professional Counselor (LCMHC) credential since 1999 and his Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist (LCAS) credential since 2009. Jim has experience directing, counseling, and working with individuals and staff in detox, residential, inpatient hospital, and outpatient/partial hospitalization settings. Jim specializes in addiction and mood disorder treatment and has been in behavioral health management, overseeing multidisciplinary teams, for the past 17 years. Jim’s passion is client recovery, clinical customer service, and employee engagement.

Jim and his wife have been married for 20 years and have two children, a 14-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter. Jim’s current interests include: hanging out with his family, reading, traveling, camping, hiking, and attending concerts and music festivals.

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Profile

Emerald Smith

LPC, ATR

Clinical Director

Child, Adolescent & Young Adult Center – Charlotte, NC

Emerald Smith is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Registered Art Therapist with over 15 years of Mental Health experience.  She attended Earlham College, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Studio Art. Emerald earned her Masters in Art Therapy and Counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has focused the past 6 years of her work on exclusively working with families and individuals living with an eating disorder in Inpatient, Residential and Partial Hospitalization levels of care. She has additional training in both Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Emerald believes in the power of creativity and enjoys witnessing the strength and resiliency of patients as they navigate recovery.

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Preeti Matkins

MD, FAAP, FSAHM

Medical Director

Child, Adolescent & Young Adult Center – Charlotte, NC

Dr. Preeti Matkins is a board-certified pediatrician with 25 years of experience, eight of which have been spent providing care for children and young adults impacted by eating disorders.

Dr. Matkins has earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed medical school at the top-ranked UNC School of Medicine. She is a member of the Academic Pediatric Association and a fellow of the Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Prior to joining Veritas, Dr. Matkins was the medical director at Teen Health Connection, the director of adolescent medicine and the director of child maltreatment at Levine Children’s Hospital, the medical director for The Center for Disordered Eating at Teen Health Connection and the assistant program director of the Pediatrics Residency as well as the director of team nurseries at Carolinas Medical Center. She also served as a professor of pediatrics at Carolinas Medical Center and remains on staff as a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the UNC School of Medicine.

When Dr. Matkins is not at Veritas, you may find this book-loving Charlotte native rooting for the Carolina Tar Heels or the Davidson Wildcats (her husband’s alma mater) with her two adult (and two canine) children or planning her next travel adventure.

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