Meet our Management Team
At SAGE Counseling, we hold a very simple philosophy: always provide exceptional service to our clients and customers. We want to ensure that these relationships continue to thrive in the future. Our high level of customer service is based on our investment in a strong administrative structure, which allows us to efficiently provide the accurate tracking and reporting that our customers require.
Stephen Grams, MA, LISAC
Executive Director
Steve is the owner and Executive Director of SAGE Counseling, Inc., an agency he founded in 1998. He began working with the criminal justice populations in 1985 serving as a psychotherapist in a maximum security prison in Pittsburgh. Over the course of his career, Steve has worked with a wide variety of criminal justice and social service agencies, and he has served as a counselor, clinical supervisor, administrator, and consultant. Steve brings a unique combination of business and counseling skills to his role as Executive Director.
Linda Cowan, MHA
Chief Operating Officer
Linda has thirty years' experience working in Behavioral Health, and has expertise building strong community relationships and collaborations. Initially she was a Psychiatric Social Worker, working with Adults and Adolescents in Inpatient Settings. Linda has held various management positions, including Director of Adolescent Services, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Executive Officer. She served as the CEO for The Guidance Center in Flagstaff for over 8 years, where she was responsible for Inpatient, Residential and Outpatient services for Adults and Adolescents. Most recently, Linda was the CEO of Native Americans for Community Action, an agency that provides primary care, behavioral health, suicide prevention, and several grant funded programs. She is a member of the Task Force that originally implemented the Coconino County Drug Court, and also served on its Advisory Board for 9 years. Linda is a past member of the Coconino County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and the Integrated Family Court Advisory Board.
Sonia Saberhagen, MSW, LCSW
Director of Clinical Services
Sonia holds an Master’s degree in Social Work from Arizona State University and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Prior to joining the team at SAGE Counseling, Sonia served as the V.P. of Clinical Operations for an inpatient/outpatient clinic in Prescott Valley providing counseling services for individuals with mental health and substance abuse issues. She also worked as the inpatient clinical director in psychiatric hospitals for nearly 10 years, providing direct oversight for all clinical care provided during the hospitalization. Sonia is trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy and has provided trauma treatment in an outpatient setting using this treatment modality. She is also certified in CBT and trained as a DBT therapist. At SAGE, Sonia provides support to clinical services and operations in the development and implementation of programming and works on other projects to support the clinical teams.
Cassidy Brooking-Lang, MSW, LCSW
Director of Clinical Operations
Cassidy has a Master’s degree in Social Welfare (MSW) from UCLA and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Supervisor with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Cassidy started her career as a social worker providing crisis response and harm reduction outreach to adults with severe mental illness and substance use concerns. She then worked as a clinician in the county jail prior to transitioning to supervisory and management positions in outpatient and field-based settings. Immediately prior to joining SAGE counseling, Cassidy supervised a case management and medication assisted treatment program for adults with concurrent mental health and substance use diagnoses at a federally qualified healthcare agency in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Cassidy also worked for the preceding six years in the San Francisco Bay Area providing both direct service and oversight for mental health specialty courts, a treatment collaboration between the county behavioral health department and superior court for criminal justice-involved adults with severe mental illness. In this role, she managed program development and implementation of mental health treatment for county-level felony diversion, alternative sentencing, and veteran’s treatment courts. Cassidy is certified in CBT and trained as a Trauma Specialist in Trauma and Addiction, harm reduction, and crisis intervention modalities.
Michael Peugnet, MS, LASAC
Director of Quality Improvement & Compliance
Michael has been working in the behavioral health field since 2012, primarily doing clinical work with the substance abuse population as a counselor. Michael is licensed by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners as a Licensed Associate Substance Abuse Counselor, has Bachelor's Degree in Education from Arizona State University, and has a Master's Degree in Addiction Counseling from Grand Canyon University. Michael has served on several leadership teams and has extensive knowledge of state licensing requirements, BMFL regulation, JCAHO accreditation, AHCCCS, and quality improvement initiatives. Michael leads the Quality Improvement department and is also the chairman of the SAGE Quality Improvement committee.
Justin Schans, MA, LAMFT
Director of Operations
Justin has a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Arizona State University. Prior to his current position, Justin worked in the DCS In-Home Programs as an intern, clinician, clinical supervisor and program manager. Justin is licensed by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners as a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. Justin has worked in both agency and private practice settings helping individuals, couples, and families. Under the general direction of the agency COO, Justin will assist in the development and execution of the organization’s strategic goals and objectives with an emphasis on administrative and technical operations. In conjunction with agency management team, the Director of Operations contributes to the agency’s quality assurance programs, strategic planning, as well as the development and implementation of agency policies and procedures.
Dennis Constantine, BS
Finance Director
Dennis serves as Finance Director for SAGE Counseling. In this role he leads the Company’s external financial reporting, corporate accounting, treasury, and risk management functions. He has a unique blend of financial leadership and operational management experience in both public and private companies. He began his career as a financial analyst for Honeywell and progressed into financial leadership positions with companies in the healthcare and aviation industries. He brings a disciple of creating and managing to key operational and financial metrics. Dennis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Arizona State University. Dennis was a Russian linguist, working for the National Security Agency, while in the US Army.
Tewodros (Teddy) G. Teklearegay, BS
IT Director
Teddy has a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and an advanced diploma in Computer Science. Prior to SAGE he worked at the United Nations for over 13 years in different capacities, including as assistant project manager at UN Ethiopia, Systems and Service desk manager at UN Timor Leste, and Senior Lotus Notes and Systems Administrator at UN Cambodia. Currently Teddy directs the implementation of sophisticated technology processes for the day to day operations of SAGE, which improves the agency's staff efficiency as well as customer service.
Christa Lynch, BA, PHR
Human Resources Director
Christa has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Arizona State University where she completed a broad range of studies in all aspects of human behavior. Christa also holds the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) designation from the Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) and has been a member since 2011. Additionally, she has been a member of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) throughout her career. She has more than 20 years’ human resource management experience in senior living and geriatric care and has been specifically in the behavioral healthcare sector for the last 9 years. Christa oversees all human resources functions including workforce planning and staff recruitment, workforce development, performance management, compensation, employee benefits,and legal compliance.