Ali Ireland (she/her), MA, has considerable experience working with leaders at the local, state, national and international levels on initiatives that aim to expand access to quality behavioral health services for all. Her focus is on elevating community voice to achieve this objective. Recently, she designed and conducted several comprehensive needs assessments for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services. The first was of publicly funded substance use disorder related women and family services across the Commonwealth, and the second of two workforce development programs, the Latino and Black Addiction Counselor Education programs, and most recently of the substance us service system for youth and young adults in the Commonwealth. She is currently working closely with stakeholders from each project on process improvement initiatives aimed at implementing meaningful and systemic change for those both working in and being served by the public service system. She has been a member of DMA’s cooperative since inception, and has served as Board Secretary, Vice President, and currently as President.

Prior to her work at DMA, she served as research associate for BasicNeeds US (BNUS) through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and in collaboration with Innovations in Healthcare of Duke University. She worked with the BNUS team to test the feasibility of implementing its international Model for Mental Health and Development in the United States. Prior to her work with BNUS, Ms. Ireland worked closely with former Ambassador and philanthropist, Swanee Hunt, as a Stakeholder Engagement Manager for her family foundation, Hunt Alternatives.

Ms. Ireland is skilled in survey, key informant interview, and focus group protocol design and implementation, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, database design and management, as well as, report and presentation preparations, and project management and coordination. In her work, she draws upon her lived experience with mental health and trauma, as well as, an understanding as an immediate family member of those who have experienced intimate partner violence, mental health challenges, substance use disorder, and suicidality. She has also participated in a number of racial equity and unconscious bias trainings as part of her work with the DMA team. She is committed to dismantling racism and approaches all of her work through the lens of equity. She has a Master’s degree in Sociology from UMass Boston and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Our Lady of the Elms College.