DURHAM, N.H. - The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) has received a 4-year contract from the NH Department of Health and Human Services to develop training and workforce support services focused on treatment and recovery for youth and young adults with Substance Use Disorders and Co-occurring Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders.
Building on the work of the NH Children’s Behavioral Health Workforce Development Network, the IOD will partner with the NH Bureau of Children’s Behavioral Health and several NH providers and trainers, including YouthMOVE NH, to develop evidence-based treatments and peer-to-peer recovery services for some of our most vulnerable youth. The project will be led by Dr. JoAnne Malloy, a nationally recognized expert in behavioral health for children and youth.
“I am very excited about being part of this important initiative,” shares Dr. Malloy. “This partnership will allow us to help YouthMOVE NH develop per-to-peer recovery supports, help the state to expand family- and youth-driven wraparound, and help community providers to provide high-quality treatments to youth who have had their futures jeopardized by addiction and mental health challenges.”
The project also includes a policy analysis to be conducted by Debra Brucker, PhD, at the Institute on Disability and funding to help the UNH School of Social Work expand course work in its substance use disorder certificate program. Work for the project began in June 2018.
The NH Children’s Behavioral Health Workforce Development Network is a collaboration of groups across the state working to improve the services, supports, and systems for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families. It has been led by Dr. Joanne Malloy since 2009.
JoAnne M. Malloy is a Research Associate Professor at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Malloy has directed several state and federally-funded youth transition, employment and dropout prevention projects with a focus on youth with emotional and behavioral disorders. In 1996, she worked with colleagues at UNH and Keene State College to develop a transition planning and support model for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders, known as RENEW (Rehabilitation, Empowerment, Natural supports, Education, and Work). RENEW has since been replicated in educational, mental health, school and juvenile detention settings across the United States, producing positive educational, vocational, and behavioral health outcomes. For more information visit www.renew.unh.edu.
