Welfare Reform for Addiction Professionals

About the Authors

The primary author of this online course is Susan Weber, a Danya consultant on children and families, welfare, and substance abuse. Mim Landry, Director of Medical and Science Communication for Danya International and a substantive expert on addiction treatment, is a secondary author.

Susan Weber
Mim Landry

Susan Weber is a consultant to Danya on issues pertaining to children and families, with particular emphasis on substance abuse, child welfare, welfare reform and welfare-to-work, child abuse and neglect, cultural diversity, and family support. Ms. Weber served in several capacities within the Federal Government, including the Head Start Bureau, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Children's Bureau. As a Senior Manager in the Head Start Bureau, Ms. Weber was responsible for the revision and management of the national training and technical assistance system for grantees, management of special national initiatives in substance abuse and health, and specialized training and technical assistance projects for Native Americans, Alaska natives, and Hispanics. As Director of the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Ms. Weber was responsible for discretionary research, demonstration and service improvement grants; intergovernmental and inter-agency special policy and program initiatives with other Federal agencies and with State governments; the Federal Interagency Advisory Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect; resource centers; Federal data collection; Federal incidence and other special policy studies; special projects addressing specific cultures; and national clearinghouses on child abuse and neglect, family violence, and disabled infants with life-threatening conditions. As the Deputy Associate Commissioner of the Children's Bureau, she was responsible for child welfare discretionary funding addressing foster care, adoption and family based services; and the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect.

As the Director, Program Operations Division of the U.S. Children's Bureau, she was responsible for Federal and State policy development and compliance reviews. As the Director, Program Support Division, U.S. Children's Bureau, she was responsible for the Federal policy and program implementation of the Adoption Opportunities Program; the Child Welfare Research and Demonstration program, including the Child Welfare Resource Centers; and the Child Welfare Training Grant Program to Schools of Social Work. Finally, as Director of Planning for the Research and Evaluation Division of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), Ms. Weber was responsible for oversight of the ACYF's policy development, planning, research, and evaluation for the Head Start Bureau, U.S. Children's Bureau, and Family and Youth Services Bureau. This included development and supervision of, as well as representation on, inter-agency, intra-agency, and intergovernmental initiatives pertaining to policy and program development issues for children and families.

Mim Landry is the Director of Medical and Science Communication at Danya International. As a senior-level medical writer with 20 years of experience in behavioral health, Mr. Landry's qualifications include clinical experience, medical and science writing, health communication, health education, behavioral science research analysis, and public health policy evaluation. His areas of expertise are addiction treatment, mental health treatment, substance abuse prevention, and the drugs of abuse. He has written more than 20 books, curricula, and monographs, including his book Understanding Drugs of Abuse: The Processes of Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery. He has written 26 journal articles and 25 book or monograph chapters, and he was a co-author of Living in Balance: A Comprehensive Substance Abuse Treatment and Relapse Prevention Manual. Most of these publications focus on substance abuse treatment and prevention interventions for physicians and other healthcare professionals. A member of the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse, the American Public Health Association, and the American Medical Writers Association, Mr. Landry is the former director of physician training and education at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics in San Francisco.