Our staff is dedicated to the full restoration of hurting teenagers and their families. From Houseparents to Office Staff, each one of our staff members is carefully selected to be a light to those in need.
Lori Ziegler – Executive Director
Lori Ziegler is the founder and Executive Director of House of Hope York PA. As a child, Lori Ziegler was abused by an adult that she was supposed to be able to trust. Years of shame and guilt compounded and she entered her teenage years as a confused and hurting young woman. At the age of 14, Lori attended a church youth retreat and gave her life to Jesus Christ; however, she walked away because she did not feel worthy of love. To deal with this confusion and pain, Lori turned to drinking at the age of 15. At the age of 20, Lori began secretly using drugs and alcohol, remaining in bondage to these addictions for the next 20 years.
On the day she turned 40, Lori hit rock bottom. With the weight of the lies, mounting debt, watching her children mirroring her actions, and her marriage on the brink of falling apart, Lori finally sought the help of friends from the church she attended as a teenager. Her friends implored her to go with them to a Women of Faith conference. One of the speakers at this event was a comedian/singer named Chonda Pierce, who eventually became a spokesperson for the National House of Hope. At the conference, Chonda began to share all the sad and terrible things she and her family experienced. In spite of those experiences she seemed to have such peace and joy, even though you could sense her pain. Chonda began to sing a song about hope, how much God loves us, and there is nothing so terrible that we could do that would cause Him to stop loving us. By the end of her presentation, Lori felt inspired. She rededicated her life right then and there to Christ and left the conference with a renewed heart. Lori sought counsel, worked through her issues and the following year attended the Women Of Faith Conference TOTALLY free of drugs and alcohol.
After that life-changing experience, in 2005, she felt lead to open up a home for hurting and broken teenage girls and their families, and began the work to open up House of Hope York PA. She reached out to the National House of Hope and began the process of becoming an affiliate and learning how to open a home in South Central Pennsylvania. In 2007, all of her hard work paid off when the doors to House of Hope York PA opened for parent education classes and non-residential counseling services in the community. In May, 2012, the Residential Home and Hope Academy opened for teen girls, giving them the chance to heal their heart wounds and learn that to be loved for who they are.
Sheri Picone – Hope Academy, Teacher | School Administrator
Sheri joined the House of Hope team in the summer of 2014 as a part time teacher for Hope Academy which is the school program for the residents. She now serves as the full-time teacher and administrator. As a teacher she tutors the girls in all their subjects, by answering questions, explaining concepts, and administering and grading tests. As the administrator, Sheri is responsible for assessing new residents to ensure they are placed at the correct academic level and coordinating the numerous classroom volunteers. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Sheri visits churches and organizations to speak about the ministry making the community aware of our needs.
Sheri’s teaching experiences comes from homeschooling her 3 grown children; all are now graduates from Pennsylvania colleges. During her numerous years of homeschooling she taught many classes in family centered co-ops. To date, Sheri continues to teach an extra-curricular science Envirothon class where she received the 2015 Outstanding Environmental Educator of the Year Award from the York County Conservation District. Sheri has earned and maintains her A.C.E. Leadership Training Certificate which is issued through the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), the curriculum used by Hope Academy.
Sheri has always been involved in her church even as a young teen. She currently enjoys singing in her choir, attending the monthly ladies’ group and serves on the church Emergency Response Team. God has prepared Sheri during all those years of church service in feeling very comfortable speaking about the ministry.
When Sheri is not at work she enjoys walking her dog over their 13 acres property in southeastern York County. Over the winter months she gets her exercise by catching pick-up games of volleyball. During the warmer months of the year she enjoys canoeing, hiking, and biking with family and friends at their hunting camp in northern PA.
Becky Pearson – School Teacher
Becky joined the House of Hope staff in 2017 as a part time teacher at our school, Hope Academy. She provides tutoring to our teen residents as they move independently through their core subjects which are all at different academic levels. This includes answering questions, explaining concepts, administering and grading tests, leading devotions, and helping the girls work through issues or conflicts that may arise during the school day.
Prior to House of Hope, Becky worked as a Lab Assistant and Substitute Teacher for a homeschool organization, Kids Day Out Academy. She gained much of her experience as a Homeschool Mom to her children for ten years. In addition Becky served as a Youth Director at a local church for 5 years.
Becky is a graduate of North Central College with a BA in Biochemistry. During her senior year, however, she felt the calling to work with youth and young adults. She has been serving the Lord in those areas ever since.
Outside of her teaching time at House of Hope, Becky enjoys being involved in her children’s activities. Gardening and Cooking are ways she likes to relax as well as listening to her worship music. She attends New Freedom Community Church in Shrewsbury with her family.
Susan Kallstrom – Director of Residential Programs
Naomi Silyagi – House Parent
Krista Arshagouni – House Parent
Kim O’Neill – House Parent
Lisa Fizer – Counselor
Lisa joined the House of Hope Counseling team in 2016. Lisa works with our teen residents and families to get to the root issues of the harmful behaviors, to bring healthy changes and introduce God’s healing grace to restore their families. Lisa assists with teaching the weekly parenting classes and brings her experiences and insight into the topics being discussed. In addition to the residential program, Lisa is involved in the Outpatient Counseling services where she ministers to individuals of all ages and couples. Lisa is an Ordained Minister and has been providing counseling services for over 15 years.
In 2002, Lisa completed an intensive 33 week Prayer Ministry & Counseling course at Freedom Thru Jesus Fellowship & Training Center. Lisa began ministering as a counselor at Freedom Thru Jesus Fellowship in 2006. Topics included Forgiveness, Judgements and Vows, Barriers to Healing, Sexual Abuse and Trauma, PTSD, Dissociation, and Ritual Abuse. Lisa is trained and has worked with individuals who experienced early life trauma/abuse, PTSD and dissociation. She has continued to build upon her training by attending various workshops and seminars, including understanding brain function, trauma bonds and PTSD. Prior to becoming staff at FTJF, Lisa worked in the healthcare industry for 22 years. Lisa also served as a Children’s Ministry leader and on Leadership teams of Eagle Christian Ministries & Emmanuel Church. Lisa counsels alongside her husband, Bill.
Lisa is ordained through Harvest Network International and is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, AACC. Lisa is also a member of ACEs Connections, which is a social network dedicated to recognizing the impact of adverse childhood experiences and trauma, to help bring healing without bringing further trauma.
Outside of her time spent at House of Hope, Lisa enjoys being outside, gardening, camping and walking her dog. Lisa looks forward to exercising her gift of hospitality whenever family or friends are around, by cooking more food than anyone can eat. Whether she is by herself or the grandchildren are around, crafts are a must for Lisa’s creative outlet.
Joy Sullivan – Counselor
Joy joined the House of Hope counseling team in September 2017. In the residential program, Joy partners with the whole family to find and replace harmful behaviors with Christ-centered beliefs that can bring healing and restoration. Joy helps facilitate weekly parenting classes, sharing her experiences and insight into the group topics being discussed. In addition to the residential program, Joy provides counseling services for our outpatient services.
Prior to joining House of Hope, Joy was a counselor in the medical industry for 15 years, specializing in nutrition and eating disorders. Joy also partnered with Children & Youth Services, where she conducted intake investigations for child abuse, as well as facilitated family therapy sessions to see if the environment was conducive for the child to return home safely. Joy served for 5 years as a facilitator in grief recovery, helping people process and journey through the grief cycles.
Joy earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Penn State in Individual & Family Studies, with an emphasis on Family Dynamics & Relationships. Her studies include Crisis Situations, Confronting and Resolving Conflict, Developmental Interruption and Dysfunctions in the Developmental Process. In addition to her degree, Joy has completed training in Mental Health awareness for OCD, depression, addiction and suicide prevention. Joy is a Certified Alzheimer’s & Dementia Trainer. Joy continued her training through Elijah House Ministries for Inner Healing and is currently attending training under Yokefellowship Prison Ministry, which is dedicated to helping at-risk youth and inmates return to society as productive members. Joy is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, AACC.
In her spare time, Joy enjoys spending time with her family, visiting New York City and the beach, and traveling. She loves Christmas year round. Another of Joy’s passions is intercessory prayer, which she starts her day.
Bill Fizer – Counselor
Bill joined the House of Hope Counseling team in 2017. Bill was instrumental in launching the outpatient counseling services, and has provided residential counseling services to the Fathers in our program. Bill leads the teaching and training for our weekly residential parenting class. Bill enjoys utilizing his background to create relative and interactive parenting classes, and is looking to develop the parenting class into a workshop for the general public. Bill is fine tuning his blogging skills to share the insights gleaned from these parenting classes. Bill has experience in dealing with early trauma and abuse. Many of Bill’s outpatient clients are couples looking to restore their marriages, and young men looking for healing and spiritual direction.
Bill is an Ordained Minister, and has been providing counseling services for over 15 years for various ministries. In 2001, Bill completed an intensive 33 week Prayer Ministry & Counseling course at Freedom Thru Jesus Fellowship & Training Center. Topics included Forgiveness, Judgements & Vows, Barriers to Healing, Sexual Abuse and Trauma, PTSD, Dissociation, and Ritual Abuse. Bill has served as a Children’s Ministry Pastor and ran a Children’s Outreach Ministry in York for 3 years through Eagle Christian Ministries. In addition to his ministry training, Bill became a Certified e-Learning Training Specialist and used his York College experience to run his own training consulting business that had him leading in multiple state and international training initiatives. In 2016, Bill switched his primary focus from his training business, to counseling full-time and has been on this journey ever since. Bill counsels alongside his wife, Lisa.
Bill is ordained through Harvest Network International and is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, AACC. Bill is also a member of ACEs Connections, which is a social network dedicated to recognizing the impact of adverse childhood experiences and trauma, to help bring healing without bringing further trauma. He is also an Elder in his home church Ten10 Community.
When Bill is not counseling, he enjoys being outdoors behind his grill, or by a campfire enjoying coffee that he freshly roasted himself. Bill, and his wife Lisa have 3 children and 4 grandchildren, which he prefers to have by his side in all of these activities.
Julie Straughan – Counselor
Julie joined the House of Hope counseling team in 2018. In the residential program, Julie works with our teen residents, and their parents, to recognize and get “unstuck” from harmful behaviors and to replace them with healthy ones. Julie consults with medical doctors in evaluating and determining an individual approach for the resident. Julie supports parents during the weekly parenting class, where they gain insight and learn new skills to implement, and have in place, when their child has completed the residential program and returns home.
Prior to joining House of Hope, Julie previously worked 9 years in a private practice, as well as a Christian counseling service, providing therapy for individuals, marital counseling as well as parental and family counseling. Julie was also a therapist at Philhaven, a family based program, where she worked with severely emotionally troubled children/adolescents and their families. Her work involved helping families struggling with the effects of varying degrees of trauma, mental health diagnoses, developmental delay/autism spectrum disorder and addictive behaviors. Julie volunteered at Camp Joy-El as a Released Time coordinator, as a Sunday School Teacher and a Youth Group Leadership. Julie is currently serving on a startup committee with her church, to implement a program designed to help others experience freedom in Christ.
Julie’s educational background includes earning a Master of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude, in Marriage & Family Therapy from Evangelical Theological Seminary, Myerstown PA. Julie earned her Bachelor of Science degree, Cum Laude, in Home Economics from Kansas State University. In addition, Julie is trained in Children & Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS), is a certified administrator of Prepare Enrich Premarital/Marriage Enrichment testing and counseling, a certified administrator/evaluator for Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), completed a 3 year clinical training program administered by Center for Family Based Training Philadelphia and is a member of American Association of Christian Counselors, AACC.
Julie and her husband have 2 sons and a granddaughter. Julie enjoys gardening, baking, home renovation projects, camping, and thrift store shopping, and especially enjoys being a grandma.
Romans 12:12-13 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in in need…”
Tammy Ort – Events Coordinator
Tammy Ort joined House of Hope in June 2011 as a fundraising volunteer. Previous education and career experience in positions utilizing her creative, fundraising and administrative skills have served various capacities at HOH through the years. Tammy’s current position as Event Coordinator provides the challenge and excitement of planning and executing annual fundraising events and campaigns to grow and sustain the ministry. Her passion is met as she watches God bring healing and restoration into the lives of hurting teens and their families. Being part of a faith-based program and working with her “family in Christ” at House of Hope blesses and motivates Tammy to continue seeking new and inventive ways to use her spiritual gifts while serving the Lord.
Megan Fizer – Fund Development Associate
Meg Fizer is the most recent addition to the House of Hope team, joining the team in May 2017. With her education in Marketing & Fine Arts, Meg has spent the last 6 years helping non-profits and mental health organizations grow their reach. As Fund Development Associate at House of Hope, Meg develops and maintains relationships with current donors and potential donors by engaging audiences with speaking events, social media, and personal meetings. Passionate about helping young people receive healing and restoration in their lives as well as their families, Meg is excited to join a strong and successful program that sets young people on a path that will help lead to the healthy and happy life they were created to live.
Lisa Smith – Administrative Assistant
Lisa came to The House of Hope in search of counseling for her son Auston who was struggling. Inspired by what experienced at The House of Hope and the growth and change that her family had received from counseling, Lisa and her husband became volunteers to give back to the place that they had received so much from. After training, Lisa and her husband facilitated parenting classes and even became parents to one of the girls who could not go back to her home. With her background in HR, Lisa now helps in the areas of HR and Finance at The House of Hope York and delights in being part of a program that brings healing and wholeness to families and young women. Lisa and her husband both currently serve as pastors in their church.