Annual Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Research Centers of Excellence Conference
The 2024 Annual Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Research Centers of Excellence Conference: Innovative Prevention and Treatment Strategies for Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Challenges is taking place May 13, 2024.
Featured Speakers: Eden Evins, MD, MPH, MGH, Lourah Kelly, PhD, iSPARC, Randi Schuster, PhD, MGH, Melissa Anderson, PhD, and Alex Wilkins, PhD, DeafYES!
Panel Members: Val Comerford, CPS, FPS, COAPS, Central MA DMH, Scott Francis, BA, CPS, COAPS, MA Organization for Addiction Recovery and Celeste Clerk, CPS, Western MA DMH
Hosted by: Massachusetts General Hospital Center of Excellence (CoE) for Psychosocial and Systemic Research and UMass Chan Medical School Implementation Science & Practice Advances Research Center (iSPARC)
About: DMH funded two new centers of research excellence in October 2018. The goal of the conference is for DMH clients, their family members, DMH staff, and providers to learn more about the work these two centers are doing, and for these centers to learn how their research can best support DMH, and its mission and the people served by DMH. The conference emphasizes community-engaged research, including the importance of engaging persons living with mental health challenges, their family members, and the providers and staff who serve them in all phases of the research process.
2024 CoE Conference Agenda
12:30-12:35 PM Welcome
Cori Cather, PhD, MGH CoE and Megan Kelly, PhD, iSPARC
12:35-12:40 PM Opening Remarks
Brooke Doyle, MEd, LMHC, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
12:40-1:25 PM A Case Against Purity: What Can We Learn at the Intersection of Mental Health and
Substance Use Challenges
Eden Evins, MD, MPH, MGH CoE
1:25-2:25 PM Between Silos: Connecting in the Middle as Peer Specialists and Recovery Coaches
Val Comerford, CPS, FPS, COAPS, Director of Recovery and Employment, Central
Massachusetts DMH
Celeste M Clerk, CPS, Director of Recovery, Western Massachusetts DMH
Scott Francis, BA, CPS, COAPS, Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery
2:25-2:35 PM Break
2:35-3:05 PM Who Has the Highest Risk of Co-occurring Substance Use Disorders and Suicide
Risk? Results from a Nationally Representative U.S. Survey
Lourah Kelly, PhD, iSPARC
3:05-3:35 PM Turning the Spigot Off: Mobilizing Schools to Support Secondary Prevention of
Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorders
Randi Schuster, PhD, MG CoE
3:35-4:20 PM “Signs of Safety”: A Deaf-Accessible Therapy Toolkit for Co-occurring Trauma and
Addiction
Melissa Anderson, PhD & Alexander Wilkins, PhD, iSPARC
4:20-4:25 PM Wrap Up (Cori Cather, PhD and Megan Kelly, PhD)
CEUs for Psychology, RN, Social Work, OT, and LMHC are available.
