Tom McSherry, MC – President

Mr. McSherry founded Crisis Preparation and Recovery, Inc. in 1995.  He has over 24 years of experience in emergency and disaster services and over 17 years experience in the field of critical incident stress management (CISM). He also served as the Emergency Disaster Services Coordinator for the Western Territory of The Salvation Army for over 8 years.

He has performed hundreds of CISM interventions for private individuals, emergency service personnel, businesses, and non-profit agencies.  He has been involved in managing The Salvation Army’s response and recovery efforts in disasters such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, a typhoon, wild land fires, tornadoes, air and train crashes, the Columbine High School shooting, and September 11th.

His organization affiliations include: President of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Past President of Arizona Emergency Services Association, and a member of the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists.

He is an adjunct instructor for the State of Arizona Emergency Management Division and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He is a trainer of 10 different Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) courses nationally and internationally, and has worked with emergency response agencies, schools, and hospitals to develop emergency response plans and CISM teams.He is also a Master Trainer for the Medic FirstAid training program.

He holds a Master of Counseling degree from the University of Phoenix and is a trained mediator.

Ester Ruiz, PhD – Clinical Director

Dr. Ruiz was educated at Arizona State University where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1972 in nursing, a Master’s of Science degree in 1981 with an emphasis in psychiatric nursing, and a Doctorate in 1994. She has been a licensed psychologist since 1994.

She has been in private practice since 1994 and is an Associate Professor for Arizona State University, College of Nursing where she teaches counseling skills to psychiatric nurse practitioner students. Her previous work experience includes: primary care nurse, alcohol and drug counselor, emergency intake therapist, and behavioral health counselor.

Michel A. Sucher, MD – Medical and Substance Abuse Advisor

Dr. Sucher was educated at Wayne State University where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1968 and a Medical Degree in 1972.  Michel Sucher’s Internship was at Sinai Hospital in Detroit, Michigan and his Residency at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis. 

From 1974 to 1994, Dr. Sucher worked as an emergency physician and emergency department director at both Scottsdale Healthcare Hospitals Osborn and Shea.  He practices addiction medicine and serves as Medical Director for the Monitored Aftercare Programs for the Arizona State Medical and Dental Boards. 

His certifications include Emergency Medicine and Addiction Medicine.  He holds teaching positions throughout the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and a member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.  Dr. Sucher is a nationally known speaker on addiction medicine and emergency medicine.

Michael J. Boylan, LCSW – Director of Operations

Mr. Boylan has a Masters Degree in Social Work from Arizona State University and has his certification with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Michael has been providing crisis intervention services in a multitude of capacities for the past 12 years.  He started his career as a crisis counselor serving a diverse population in New York City in a public elementary school.  He moved to Arizona in 1994 and began providing services in the County-wide Mental Health Crisis System and later served as Director of Crisis and Referral Services under ValueOptions in 1998 until 2001. He began his work with Crisis Preparation and Recovery in 2001 and currently provides oeprational direction and support to counselors providing services to nearly 8000 patients each year at area hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. 

Our Mission

The mission of Crisis Preparation and Recovery is to provide innovative, effective, and compassionate crisis and disaster services to individuals and organizations.

We will accomplish this by:

• Creating a work environment that promotes the importance of our employees.
• Promoting on-going professional training and development for our employees.
• Building positive relationships with the individuals and organizations.
• Consistently providing quality customer service.
• Developing effective strategies and action plans for providing crisis and disaster services.
• Communicating timely, accurate, and relevant information to all customers.
• Setting and modeling standards of excellence in crisis and disaster services.