Dr. Andy Finch is a Professor of the Practice at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. He is a core faculty member for the Human Development Counseling Program in the Department of Human & Organizational Development. Dr. Finch is also the faculty Head of North House in the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons. Dr. Finch co-founded the Association of Recovery Schools in 2002, and for nine years, Dr. Finch worked for Community High School in Nashville, one of the early schools for teens recovering from alcohol and other drug addictions - a school he helped design and open in 1997. Dr. Finch also helped found Vanderbilt University’s collegiate recovery program in 2007 and currently serves on its advisory committee. 

Dr. Finch has been a lead researcher on two national studies of recovery high schools, both funded by NIDA. He co-wrote the Standards for Accreditation for recovery high schools and was one of the lead developers of the Systematic Evaluation for the Association of Recovery Schools (SEARS) instrument. Among Dr. Finch’s numerous published works on recovery and education are Starting a Recovery School (2005, Hazelden Foundation) and Approaches to Substance Abuse and Addiction in Educational Communities: A Guide to Practices that Support Recovery in Adolescents and Young Adults (2010, Routledge), on which he was a co-editor. Dr. Finch most recent book is Salvaging a Teenage Wasteland: Origins of the Recovery High School Movement (2024, Oxford University Press).