Tim Thayne, Ph.D.
Founder & CEO

Tim was born and raised in the Uintah Basin of rural, Northeastern Utah. There, he learned from his father and grandfather the value of hard work and a job done right. In this rural, down-to-earth setting, where family was held in high esteem, Tim developed his passion for helping families. After earning a Masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, Tim attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute where he received his Ph.D.

At Virginia Tech, while working on his dissertation, Tim co-created an innovative program that helps large companies readjust and come to terms with change after experiencing the trauma of corporate restructuring. Called Solution-Focused Leadership, this program blends the best methods of marriage and family therapy with the larger organization models to develop healthy work environments as well as training executives and managers in effective leadership. The Solution-Focused Leadership initiative was a tremendous success and led to the co-founding of Thayne Leadership Academy, a corporate consulting firm. Blending methods to help people in transitional times not only planted the seeds for Tim’s next big move, it honed his professional skills in the critical areas of assessment, evaluation, personal coaching, mediation, communication training, and real-world effectiveness (i.e. getting results in high-pressure, time-sensitive periods).

Yearning to get back to his roots and to helping families, Tim teamed-up to co-found the five star wilderness program Outback Therapeutic Expeditions (formerly Walkabout). The program became a tremendous success and the rewards of helping troubled teens were immediate and apparent. However, after several years in the industry Tim was discouraged by stories of teens that had made great strides while away in wilderness as well as residential programs only to return home to environments that inadvertently did not support the positive changes made. With evidence mounting that illustrated the disturbing rates of behavior relapse after achieving success in wilderness or residential treatment, Tim began working on a practical, real-world solution to the problem.

What developed from Tim’s innovation was a process he called Family Transition Management™ (FTM™). Originally conceived as an aftercare solution, Tim quickly discovered that FTM worked for a number of family-centered, transitional, and developmental problems. Putting this revolutionary model into practice became Tim’s passion. In 2005 Tim left Outback to found Homeward Bound and Family Front, sister organizations committed to helping families reunite, overcome personal challenges, and rediscover the natural support and joy of family.

Tim has spoken extensively for professional conferences, religious groups, educational institutions, and civic organizations.  Tim appeared as an expert on the Dr. Phil Show.  He has written articles published in journals such as Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy and Psychology Today.

Tim and his wife Roxanne have five wonderful children.   He uses a lot of his spare time milking the family cow (for his late night cold cereal fixes), keeping the horses reminded of who’s “the boss”, and cheering on  his favorite college sports teams. Tim is currently serving on the National Advisory Committee for the College of Family, Home and Social Sciences at BYU, as well as other charity and business boards.

Bryan Zitzman, Ph.D.
Program Director

Bryan brings to the table the valuable combination of being educated, experienced, and personable. He received his Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) from Brigham Young University and his Doctorate in MFT from Virginia Tech.

Bryan has spent the past decade helping families manage and overcome the tremendous challenges of mental illness, addiction, and family conflict. He is considered one of the best in this industry at supporting parents and teens in the transition home from wilderness and residential programs. He is exceptional at helping parents learn to navigate challenges relating to oppositional-defiance, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, explosiveness/intimidation, and substance abuse.  He is also adept at working with young adults (18 years +) and their parents, helping them establish a more enjoyable, parent-adult child relationship. Lastly, his experience with affluent families has helped him understand the unique challenges faced by these parents and their children. 

Bryan has been part of our team since June of 2005. He has served as clinical director as well as program director. He has been instrumental in developing the Homeward Bound model and is one of the primary authors of our Parent Library. He loves his job and has enjoyed working with families throughout the United States and Canada.

On a personal note, Bryan has been married twelve years and has four children. When he is not working, he enjoys golfing, playing tennis, relaxing around a campfire, playing games with his children, or simply watching a good suspense-thriller while sitting next to his wife and munching on some good, homemade Kettle Corn.

Kelly Olson, MS
Transition Specialist

Kelly received her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from BYU where she also studied Wilderness Education and Youth Leadership. After working as a guide for the Anasazi Foundation, she chose to pursue her Master of Science in Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.

Since completing her work there, she has enjoyed aiding adolescents and families in a variety of settings, including in-home, wilderness and residential programs. These experiences gave her increased expertise in the areas of adoption and wilderness education, which led her to learn about and pursue what it takes for families and youth to change and thrive.  She has since become an expert in family transition and in-home family support. She has a passion for teaching and for working with teens and their parents. It was this passion that convinced her to leave her job at a residential treatment center to join Homeward Bound’s team in 2006.

When not engrossed in Homeward Bound’s endeavors, outdoor enjoyment is an ever-present pursuit.  She is only truly competitive when scaling a rock face, and then, only with herself.  She enjoys the quiet peace of snow shoeing with her dog, loves canoeing, and backpacking and nearly any other activity that takes her deeper into the wild, more especially if she can drag family along.  She loves history, laughter, languages and literature and is grateful for all those who have shared these passions with her.

Michelle Lindsay MS, LPC
Transition Specialist

Michelle received her B.S. in Social Work at Brigham Young University.
Five years and three children later she returned to school and received her M.S. in School Counseling at Utah State University.  After working as both a middle school and high school counselor for several years she received her Professional Counselor’s degree from the University of Phoenix.  This is not to overshadow the invaluable education she continually receives as a parent through the guidance of her husband and children..

Michelle became passionate about working with teens in transition after several years of working as a therapist in both a wilderness and residential treatment setting.  This experience gives her unique insight and knowledge regarding the difficulties teens and families experience when returning home. She has given presentations to other professionals and programs educating them regarding best practices in transitioning teens from wilderness to residential treatment settings. Being invited to continue her work with Homeward Bound has been a perfect match.

Michelle absolutely loves the work that she does with Homeward Bound families. Having a family of her own, she enjoys sharing examples from her own parenting experience, as well as the experiences garnered from working with hundreds of Homeward Bound families.  Her goal is to take good parents and guide them in fine-tuning the skills they already have and applying them to difficult situations- empowering them to be awesome parents and enjoy family life once again.

On a personal note, Michelle has been married for 19 years to Dan’l and has 3 children just entering the troublesome teenage years.  However, she still loves spending time with them waterskiing, snowboarding, fishing, camping, riding horses, and searching the desert for Indian artifacts.  She also keeps young by reading, playing competitive sports, entertaining and feeding the neighborhood teenagers!

Rebekah Tayebi, M.S.
Family Specialist

Rebekah Tayebi received her M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University in New York.  She worked in the inner-city, specializing in clinical work with children and families.  After completing grad school, Rebekah decided to make the move to the west coast in order to work in residential treatment.  She spent three years working in residential treatment with teenage girls and their families.  Through this work, Rebekah gained experience working with addictions/recovery, personality disorders, DBT, adoption issues, and trauma.  She particularly enjoyed being a part of family therapy and seeing families move forward together in their progress and change for good.

Rebekah became a part of the Homeward Bound family in November 2008.  She works in their Northern California branch, mainly focusing on coaching local families.  She has enjoyed working with parents and teens in their home settings.  It is a joy for her to see the program work for these families, and how excited teens and their parents are to make home a safe and happy place. 

Rebekah is an avid yogi and is thrilled to live in a city that has a yoga studio on almost every corner!  When she's not practicing yoga, she enjoys running and being in nature.  She loves reading fiction, listening to music, learning about new cultures, and watching movies.  She especially loves independent and foreign films.  She is passionate about world travel and tries to visit a new country every year.  Her biggest love is her family and friends.  She is grateful for the close connections she's been able to develop with others. 

Jason Carroll, Ph.D.
Director of Research/Transition Specialist

Jason received his Ph.D. from the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota.  He is a university professor and a nationally-recognized researcher and scholar.  Recently, Jason served as a Visiting Scholar and Research Advisor for the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Jason has authored over 50 scientific articles/book chapters and has presented numerous papers at national and international conferences. His work has appeared in leading family scientific journals such as The Journal of Family Psychology, Family Process, The Journal of Family Issues, and Family Relations as well as leading adolescent journals such as The Journal of Adolescent Research, The Journal of Youth and Adolescence and The Journal of Adolescence. He currently serves on the editorial board for Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies. A highly sought-after public speaker, Jason’s research has been featured in USA Today, Psychology Today Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, GQ Magazine, Glamour Magazine, Elle Magazine, Focus on the Family, and other popular media and news outlets.

Jason has been married for 16 years and he and his wife Stefani are the parents of five children.

Roxanne Platt Thayne, B.A.
Marketing Director

Roxanne Platt Thayne has recently joined our staff, though she has been an integral part of the team, behind the scene, since Homeward Bound’s inception!  She teases that she’s FINALLY getting paid for her great ideas!

With her degree in secondary education, history and geography, she loves to teach.  Having five children that she homeschooled for nearly 8 years, she was able to live the dream of teaching her favorite kids in the world!  The time and experience she has in teaching, motivating and moving people has been highly valued by friends, co-workers, community, and schools.  She has taught in a wide range of situations from ballroom dance, history, couple communication, yoga, cooking, emergency preparedness, book group discussions and humanitarian aid service projects, finding all of it exciting and fulfilling.

A natural enthusiast for anything she believes in, Roxanne is the perfect fit to promote the importance of families and preserving those relationships.  Married to Tim for 18 years, she knows the joys and challenges that marriage and family brings to a woman.  From the earliest days of spring, to the latest fall days, you can find her sneaking out of the house for a few minutes of peaceful reading on her front porch.

Dawnie C. Williams
Executive Assistant

As the office manager at Homeward Bound, Dawnie wears many hats: overseeing client records, accounting, billing, drug testing kits, enrollment, preparing materials for In- Home Family Workshops and supporting the overall process.  Dawnie maintains the financial books and works with the management team to increase efficiency from the top down. 

Being the first person you will likely talk to when you call, you can almost hear the smile and energy that won her a spot as a dancer at Utah State University.  She attended LDS Business College and Utah State University where her studies focused on Finance and Accounting. She spent eight years in the public speaking arena as a personal assistant for the motivational speaker Art Berg, scheduling speaking engagements, handling product sales and distribution, association conferences and marketing.  Dawnie came to Homeward Bound after two years as an Admissions Counselor for a wilderness therapeutic program.  She finds this industry fascinating and is inspired to see the positive changes families are able to make through intervention and aftercare. 

Dawnie and her wonderful husband, Bryan have three teenage daughters  (yes, she can speak text) and one son (she’s a dedicated cub scout mother)..  Her family enjoys 4-wheeling, spending time relaxing and watching movies together. You will not find a more loyal and efficient friend or assistant than Dawnie.  We don’t think she knows how to say no! She has an infectious positive energy and strives to instill it in others.