.jpg "Roberta C. Churchill, MA, Licensed Mental Health Counselor photo")
Senior Justice Associate
Advocates for Human Potential, Inc.
Sudbury, Massachusetts
Roberta C. Churchill, LMHC, is a senior justice associate at Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) with nearly 25 years of experience working with justice-involved individuals living with substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders, trauma, and multiple needs. Ms. Churchill has extensive knowledge of evidence-based and promising practices in both research and implementation, and she uses her experience with and knowledge of the justice system and behavioral health services to provide training and technical assistance (TTA) to criminal justice agencies regarding treatment, supervision, program implementation and fidelity management. Since coming to AHP, she has researched medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and withdrawal guidelines for jails and the pretrial population and supervised a survey of federally funded Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) programs and MAT programs within each state and U.S. territory. She continues to cultivate a network of RSAT programs and MAT professionals to encourage collaboration and peer mentoring. Ms. Churchill led the development of the Fidelity Assessment Initiative (FAI), which evaluates RSAT program alignment with the Promising Practices Guidelines for RSAT programs that includes recommendations to match RSAT program needs with targeted TTA. She also assisted in the 2021 revision of the Promising Practices Guidelines to ensure content was up to date with research and outcome studies and is currently revising guidelines to include principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout all practices. Ms. Churchill is currently involved with the RSAT Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manual Advisory Panel, and has updated other RSAT manuals over the last year.
In her extensive background in behavioral health treatment, Ms. Churchill has developed and managed programs, initiated community networks, and conducted outreach work doing at-home case management and therapy with young adults at risk and people living with HIV. Since 1996, she has worked with justice-involved individuals who have multiple needs, developing and supervising MAT, RSAT, and gender-specific programming. She has worked with various jails and prisons, community correction sites, and treatment courts facilitating, supervising, and implementing substance use and co-occurring mental health disorder treatment programs. As a licensed mental health counselor, Ms. Churchill has provided clinical supervision, training, and consultation for more than 25 years in the areas of evidence-based interventions and principles, including Motivational Interviewing and trauma-responsive care. Throughout her career, she has worked with a variety of vulnerable populations, including women and children who had experienced the trauma of sexual abuse, developmentally disabled adults living in the community for the first time after a life of institutionalization, and people prescribed medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) newly released from jail. Ms. Churchill holds an M.A. in counseling psychology from Lesley University.
I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
4:30 PM – 5:45 PM ET