Substance Abuse Services

Administration, Research, Evaluation, & Special Projects Management

Ernestine Joyner

Program Manager: Dawn Farrell-Moore, LCSW, CSAC

Staff Name - Position:
Ernestine Joyner – Administrative Assistant           
Alison Breland, Ph.D. – Project Manager
Angela Fitzgerald, M.S. – Research Associate
Jessica Markey, MPH, MSW – Research Assistant

Unit Description: —————————————

The Administration, Research, and Evaluation Unit provides administrative support for the entire Substance Abuse Division. This unit enhances the grant-seeking capabilities and improves the quality of services provided by the Division, and aims to increase the adoption of evidence-based practices by our contracted service provider partners through the establishment of collaborative relationships with local universities, treatment facilities, and other agencies. 

Mission: ——————————————————————————

To sustain the provision of effective, innovative services and conduct applied and translational research and program evaluation focused on the use of evidence-based practices to advance the addiction treatment field. 

Main Partner Organizations: —————————————————

Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and other state offices; both Federal and State funding agencies; Richmond area contracted services providers; local and statewide advocacy groups; City of Richmond agencies; and various departments of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Current Activities: ————————————————————————

• Identify potential opportunities for funding and collaboration for addiction treatment and prevention services
• Develop grant proposals and service development
• Develop scholarly presentations for conferences
• Perform data collection, entry and analysis
• Design and conduct focus groups and other process evaluation protocols
• Develop program descriptive documents to be used for management, administrative and marketing purposes
• Design presentations for delivery by managerial and supervisory staff to a variety of audiences

Recent Accomplishments: ——————————————————

• Grant funding obtained to support services for our Prevention, Women’s, and HIV Units (6.4 million awarded over the past 5 years)
• Continuation of the Evidence-Based Practices Implementation Network (EBPIN) which has provided: training opportunities for staff and contract agency staff; a platform for nationally recognized experts to share information; and ideas that have been modeled at the state level
• Participant organization in NIDA’s Clinical Trials Network
• Poster Presentations at many recent conferences: College on Problems of Drug Dependence; Society of Behavioral Medicine; and Addictions Health Services Research