Ms. Flynn-Gonzalez joined DMA in October 2022 as the Recovery Support Coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, where she works with the Recovery Support Service team to support the MA Peer Recovery Support Centers and continues to develop recovery oriented systems of care throughout the state.
Ms. Flynn-Gonzalez is a woman in long-term recovery and, for the past 25 years, has worked in the greater Holyoke/Springfield community providing clinical services and supervision, program development, and grant management for individuals, children and families in diverse communities. Her extensive experience in provision of clinical and diagnostic services to adults with trauma, substance use, incarcerated and post-incarcerated, and other high-risk populations along with her lived experience as a mother and grandmother and love of children nurtured a passion for working with mothers and ultimately in the field of peer recovery. As the coordinator of the Fresh Start program, she helped to develop innovative peer recovery services for parents with substance use disorders and on Medication Assisted Treatment, and she worked to advocate for compassionate and the most effective care for mothers and children. At the conclusion of FRESH Start, Ms. Flynn-Gonzalez spent a year as a clinician at the Providence Hospital Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program to expand her knowledge of MAT. She then returned to the peer recovery world as the Director of a Hope for Holyoke Peer Recovery Support Center, where she spent 7 years developing innovative programming and leading a team of staff and peer members who brought Hope for Holyoke to the center of recovery in the community of Holyoke. She is the recipient of the 2000 Clara Leonard Temple Award for Direct Care by the Human Service Forum, the 2018 Unsung Heroine by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, and the 2020 Excellence in Advocacy and Engagement Award from the Association for Behavioral Health Care.
Ms. Flynn-Gonzalez earned her Master of Education in Counseling Psychology from Cambridge College in 2000.