Carolyn Castro-Donlan PhD, President and CEO of Castro-Donlan Consulting, LLC in Ashburn, VA. She brings over 30 years of public and private experience in health and human services in diverse settings and disciplines, including federal, state and local government processes as well as that of community based non-profit organizations. This includes experience in strategic planning, program development and implementation, cross systems collaboration and strategic community mobilization. Current consulting focus include development of federal and state proposal documents and related service planning specific to substance use disorders (SUD) and Medication Assisted Treatment Services (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorders and Adolescent and Young Adult State Infrastructure Initiatives. In addition to facilitating service development with state and local government leadership; program and agency executive coaching with a focus on strategic decision making; implementation of process improvement strategies and the integration of behavioral health and primary care services at the community level.
Consulting services include the provision of executive coaching, interagency coordination, in-depth technical assistance and training in the areas of behavioral health services, HIV/AIDS prevention and healthcare systems change. Service development consulting services include delivery of subject matter expertise to content development and writing of practice guidance documents and toolkit materials. Recent projects include providing subject matter expertise in MAT for Opioid Use Disorders, Adolescent and Young Adult SUD Systems, Process Improvement strategies, Health Information Exchange, primary care, mental health and SUD service integration. Successful MAT state and hospital-based grants and service development specific to the needs of pregnant women with opioid use disorders. Lead on the development of a Maternal Health and Opioid Use Disorders Toolkit for multidiscipline maternal health clinicians.
In previous roles, she was a Principal and Deputy Project Director, Division of Services Improvement, Clinical Technical Assistance contract with JBS International, in this senior management role provided primary oversight of several substance abuse service areas that included adolescents, Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment, recovery-oriented systems of care, and women, children and family treatment services. As Deputy Director for the Fairfax–Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB), provided clinical and scientific expertise in determining behavioral health service policy, contributing to an appropriate quality improvement agenda based on results driven principles as well as identifying effective and efficient programmatic areas of focus. Including the oversight of the planning and implementation of primary care and behavioral health service integration to best meet the clinical and regulatory needs of all CSB services.
Ms. Castro-Donlan established and served as the Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Services with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. In this role, she provided direction and oversight to the development of innovative youth centric substance use programs focused on improving outcomes among this population and their families. Prior to this position, Ms. Castro-Donlan served as the Deputy Director for the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse Services and has held other key leadership positions in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
As a service provider, she has been a Program Director for community based residential and outpatient substance abuse services and started her career out as a Licensed Practical Nurse. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree for Social Policy and Management from Brandeis University and a master’s degree in psychology from Harvard University, a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Addiction Studies from University of Florida. She also served on various boards including as President of the Board for the New England Institute of Addiction Studies.