ABOUT US: STAFF

Richard H. Dougherty, Ph.D., CEO

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Dougherty has consulted with businesses and government agencies in a wide variety of strategic planning, change management, and quality improvement projects. Examples of current and recent work include: SAMHSA program reviews of the Children’s Mental Health Initiative and the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative and a current project to systematically review the evidence base for behavioral health benefits in the modern mental health and addictions system; a review and analysis of Detroit/Wayne County’s mental health system to prepare for reprocurement, and; ongoing strategic planning with the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services in MA. Selected past projects include developing a successful operating manual for consumer directed care in Delaware County PA; preparation of three papers in 2008 and 2009 on options for the redesign of Washington, Montana and New York’s mental health systems; leadership of two quality improvement collaboratives for Massachusetts (MA) Department of Mental Health and eight California counties; leadership of the 2004 SAMHSA Consumer Directed Services Initiative; and the design, and development of both the Massachusetts behavioral health carve-out (1991 and 1995) and San Diego County’s Adult Mental Health (1996) initiatives. In the early 90’s, Dr. Dougherty spent two years providing extensive organizational consulting to several divisions of Corporate Finance in the General Electric Company as a part of the nationally recognized Work-Out! Project. Prior to forming DMA in 1987, Dr. Dougherty was a Senior Manager at BDO/Seidman where he helped build a regional non-profit consulting practice. Previous positions include Manager of Finance and member of the Board of Directors of National Mentor, Inc. and Program Manager for the MA Department of Social Services, in charge of residential procurement.

Dr. Dougherty has an A.B. with honors from Colgate University, an A.M. in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from Boston University. He is the 2011 recipient of the Barton Distinguished Fellow Award. He has published extensively and presented at numerous national conferences on health reform, procurement, financing and performance measurement. He has recently been Treasurer and a member of the Board of the American College of Mental Health Administration, a member of the national Outcomes Roundtable for Children and Families and co-chair of the Building Bridges Outcome Subcommittee for SAMHSA. He is the President of BasicNeeds US, Inc. a charity supporting community mental health services in nine developing countries and Treasurer at Hancock Church. He is a past-President and Treasurer of the Community Music Center of Boston and has extensive allocations experience with the United Way of Massachusetts Bay.

Wendy Holt, M.P.P., Principal

Ms. Holt has considerable analytical and operational experience in Medicaid managed mental health carve outs, Medicaid managed care for people with disabilities and child welfare services. She is currently researching options available under the Affordable Care Act for health homes centered in substance abuse treatment settings for the MA Department of Public Health. She is also working with the Massachusetts chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness and the Association for Behavioral Healthcare to recommend a strategy for financing statewide implementation of jail diversion programs in police departments. Ms. Holt recently completed issue briefs summarizing lessons learned from Minnesota’s federal Demonstration to Maintain Independence and Employment; collaborated with the Lewin Group on a study of the Massachusetts children’s mental health workforce; and conducted a case study of the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program for the Commonwealth Fund.

Trained in economics (BA, University of Wisconsin, 1974) and public policy (Masters, Kennedy School of Government, 1979), Ms. Holt has a number of areas of expertise, including: assisting states to design, procure and evaluate Medicaid managed behavioral health care plans; performance measures and cross-state benchmarking of Medicaid and mental health authority services for children; assessments of state and region mental health and substance abuse needs and gaps utilizing quantitative and qualitative data; and analysis of human service provider financial condition and rate adequacy.

Prior to joining DMA, Ms. Holt served as Manager of Policy and Planning at MHMA, the first statewide Medicaid behavioral health carve out in the nation. In that position, she had key roles in network development, provider performance profiling, client outcomes measurement, outpatient utilization management, and CQI team leadership. Ms. Holt also served as Director of Administration and Finance for a mental health clinic and Supervising Management Auditor at the State Auditor’s Office.

Sylvia B. Perlman, Ph.D., Senior Associate

Sylvia B. Perlman, Ph.D., is a Senior Associate at DMA Health Strategies. Over the past two decades her experience in behavioral health has been varied; it has included work for a statewide trade association, for a large provider organization and as a consultant. Her projects at DMA Health Strategies have included a study of Massachusetts’s first jail diversion program conducted for the private agency that operates the program; major responsibility for preparing the background narrative in support of a state substance abuse planning initiative; consultation and major writing responsibility for proposals by public agencies and private organizations to public and private funders; a study for The Commonwealth Fund of promising state innovations in behavioral health care; development of a series of brief papers for employers summarizing the literature on treatment for substance use disorders, for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment; and a major role in the Children’s Mental Health Benchmarking Project, funded primarily by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. She completed a description and process analysis of a small, privately funded, school based program in Massachusetts and is currently involved in the program's evaluation. She also completed a description of a local drug court program, which subsequently received funding from SAMHSA, and she is currently involved in the evaluation of that program. In addition, Dr. Perlman has worked with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services and the Governor's Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and Prevention on implementation of an update to the Commonwealth's Strategic Plan for Substance Abuse. She is currently working with NAMI-Massachusetts and the Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH) on development of a white paper looking at ways to promote decriminalization of mental illness in Massachusetts; this project is funded by the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts.

For the trade association, then called Mental Health and Substance Abuse Corporations of Massachusetts and now ABH, Dr. Perlman was responsible for offering technical assistance to executive directors regarding regulations, billing and managed care. She planned training sessions, meetings and conferences; prepared written analyses of policies; staffed committees on children’s clinical issues, Medicaid policy, quality management, and corporate compliance (including HIPAA compliance); and initiated and managed an association-wide project on outcome measurement.

Dr. Perlman received her A.B. from Smith College, Magna cum Laude, and her Ph.D. from Brandeis University. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Perlman serves as a board member of Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Boston where she chairs the Board Quality Improvement Committee. She has also served on and chaired the Board of Directors of Consumer Quality Initiatives, a consumer-directed organization based in Boston. She has published on a variety of topics in numerous journals, and has spoken at many local and national conferences.

D. Russell Lyman, Ph.D., Senior Associate

Dr. Lyman is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience in mental health and developmental services. He has consulted to community-based mental health programs, child care settings, shelters, after school programs, K-12 school systems and federal, state and human service agencies. Prior to joining DMA Health Strategies, Dr. Lyman worked in senior management as a clinical director, chief operating officer and vice president for research and strategic initiatives at a major child and family developmental and mental health service agency in the Boston area. He has authored and won many service contracts and federal grants with the federal Administration for Children, Youth and Families; the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); and state mental health, developmental disability, child welfare and public health agencies.

At DMA Dr. Lyman has written briefs on mental health and substance abuse screening for SAMHSA and on adolescent substance abuse services for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS). He has worked with BSAS on interagency strategic planning for substance abuse services, on BSAS workforce development and with its Office of Youth and Young Adult Services on financial mapping, interagency planning and needs assessment for transition age youth. He has consulted to the Rhode Island Department of Children Youth and Families on the integration of juvenile justice, child welfare and mental health community based and residential programs and to Delaware County, Pennsylvania on self-directed care. Recently he has been involved in program review of SAMHSA’s National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative and Children’s Mental Health Initiative, as well as in systematic review for SAMHSA of the evidence base for a broad range of mental health and substance abuse services. He is also conducting program evaluation of various community based initiatives, including school based family support, adult drug court and school violence prevention initiatives.

Dr. Lyman is a B.A. graduate of Yale University and earned a M.Ed. in Counseling from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Boston University Graduate School. In 2006-2008 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Tufts University Eliot Pearson Department of Child Development and was also a 2005-2006 ZERO TO THREE Harris Mid-Career Leaders of the 21st Century Fellow. Dr. Lyman has presented nationally on early identification of the mental health needs of young children and on program development and outcomes measurement in children’s mental health systems of care. He has published internationally on intensive community-based intervention, and recently completed a Commonwealth Fund state case study of infant and early childhood mental health systems of care.

Deborah C. Strod, M.S.W., Associate

Deborah Strod’s work at DMA has concentrated on the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, designing and implementing their Independent Peer Review process using NIATx principles, and supporting a Workforce Development strategic planning initiative. She has also supported DMA’s extensive work on the national Building Bridges Initiative, conducting focus groups and incorporating stakeholder feedback into the design of a self-assessment tool for residential providers and their community partners evaluating their implementation of system of care principles. In addition, Ms. Strod has supported the quality improvement, report-writing and analytic activities of the firm. Active in town politics, Ms. Strod and Dr. Dougherty co-chaired the Town of Lexington Health Benefits Committee that prepared a landmark report reviewing health insurance costs for Lexington and approximately 20 neighboring communities and outlining the strategic options for the town. She has served on numerous town committees and is currently Deputy Town Moderator.

Prior to DMA, Ms. Strod’s work experience involves ten years of progressive responsibility at Massachusetts General Hospital in their Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology and the Office of Technology Affairs. In various positions from 1991 to 2001, she was responsible for conducting scientific forums, facilitating development of innovative technologies, managing intellectual property, participating in continuous quality improvement and negotiating industry-sponsored research agreements including clinical trials. She has a Masters in Social Work concentrating in Group Work and Community Organization and Planning from the Boston University School of Social Work and a B.A. Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College in History and Science.

Paul Sheehan, M.P.A., Program Manager

Paul Sheehan has been working in the field of criminal offender reentry in various communities across the country for over fifteen years. Currently, he is the Program Director for the Massachusetts Access to Recovery Program (MA-ATR). MA-ATR is a four year grant awarded to the Massachusetts Department of Public of Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Service by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (SAMHSA). The program is expanding access to treatment and recovery services using a system of electronic vouchers and consumer choice, and a broad network of community- and faith-based providers. Mass ATR targets individuals in Boston and Hampden County (Western Massachusetts) involved with the criminal justice system and affected by substance use.

Prior to joining DMA, Mr. Sheehan served as the Director of Community Health Operations for Correctional Healthcare Companies of Greenwood Village, Colorado, one of the largest inmate health care vendors in the country, assisting the company in its efforts to establish continuity of care linkages between state and local correctional facilities and community health centers and university hospital systems.

He was the Chief Operating Officer of Community Oriented Correctional Health Services (COCHS), a newly formed organization in Oakland, California supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other philanthropic groups. COCHS assists jurisdictions around the nation that are interested in merging community and correctional health services, focusing on the potential financial savings and the related public health and safety opportunities that exist within the returning, chronically ill inmate population.

Mr. Sheehan also had a wide variety of responsibilities as part of his work with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, including the development and implementation of several inmate health, recovery, educational and reentry programs giving him a wide range of experience with community providers and law enforcement. Mr. Sheehan received Masters Degree in Public Administration from American International College in Springfield, MA.

Brian Miller, LICSW, LADCI, Associate

Brian Miller has been working in the social service field for over 30 years, as a counselor, teacher, and consultant. Since 2005 he has been an adjunct faculty member for the University of New Hampshire, Graduate School in Social Work. Since 1999 he maintained a Private Practice, until 2009 when he began consulting for DMA Health Strategies. In this capacity, he has been assisting the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, Office of Youth and Young Adult Services address substance abuse issues among youth and young adults in the Commonwealth.

Throughout his thirty years of serving individuals and their families, Brian has maintained a firm belief in getting to know each person as an individual, recognizing and honoring their strengths, and in the amazing ability of each person to recover and heal from a substance use disorder and its’ associated problems. Brian also brings compassion, hope, and a sense of humor to his work.

Diane Salley, B.A., Office Manager/Assistant

Ms. Salley is responsible for monitoring, tracking, invoicing and reporting on the financial aspects of contracts and subcontracts to ensure adherence to budgets and contract requirements. She also maintains the functions of our office including accounting and time reporting systems, proposal coordination, and human resource functions. Ms. Salley supports the analytic functions of the team with her mastery of word processing, data collection, data base management, financial spreadsheets, flow charting software, and project management programs.

Her prior experience includes 14 years with the defense contractor Loral Infrared Imaging Systems (formerly Honeywell) where she performed time studies, program planning activities, coordination of proposal efforts, and evaluation of program management and proposal software tools.

Shannon Robinson, B.S., Research Analyst

As a research analyst at DMA, Ms. Robinson assists in data collection, analysis and presentation for a number of projects, such as an evaluation of the Family Success Partnership for the Assabet Valley Collaborative, a survey review of anti-bullying initiatives in the Metrowest School System, a client satisfaction assessment for the Ayer Drug Court, and a financial review of the Children’s Mental Health Initiative for SAMSHA. Prior to DMA, Shannon has worked as a case manager for Heading Home, Inc., a nonprofit in South Boston that assists homeless families in their transition from emergency shelter to public housing. There, she worked with her clients to connect them to available resources for healthcare, navigate the public housing and public benefit system, and develop skills and self-sufficiency. Previous research experience includes a position at the Children's Hospital Boston Primary Care Center, where she contributed to projects on needs assessment and program evaluation for community resource programs such as the Young Parents Program and One Step Ahead childhood obesity clinic, and at the Tufts University Psychology Labs she assisted in the development of multiple research projects. Throughout her academic and professional experience, she has maintained an interest in behavioral health and health systems with a focus on children, family and adolescent populations. Shannon is a recent graduate of Tufts University with a double major in Psychology and Public Health.

Beth Harrington, B.A., Administrative Assistant

Beth Harrington currently provides administrative support to the Access to Recovery Program (ATR)—a four-year grant from SAMHSA aimed at expanding treatment opportunities for recovering substance users. Before joining DMA, Beth provided administrative support to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, Electronic Invoice Management and the Office of HIV/AIDS as well as the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Since her graduation from Smith College, Ms. Harrington has become particularly interested in examining the impact of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder on those recovering from mental illness.