| Bio: |
Lisa Lambert is the mother of a son with very significant mental health needs, now a young adult, who is a proactive advocate for himself. Her extensive personal experience navigating a complex system to secure treatment and services for him led to a set of local parent support services and then moving to the statewide family-run organization where she is director today. She has extensive experience as a cultural broker between families and professional stakeholders on both a personal and professional level. Since 2007, Ms. Lambert has been executive director and has doubled the agency’s budget, increased its impact and is sought after as a family member representative in many state level committees focused on mental health, juvenile justice, integrated care and medical homes.
Ms. Lambert has implemented contracts at the state and local level to promote system design that meets the needs of families and youth with mental health needs as well as a SAMHSA-funded statewide family network grant. She has created a statewide peer to peer network for family partners (many of whom are Medicaid funded) and instituted monthly “content” trainings, which are highly successful, as well as using highly effective social media strategies to connect families and share information. She has created numerous guides, including a guide for law enforcement and a crisis guide. She speaks widely across the state and nationally.
Realizing that individual parent and youth stories need to be supported by data, Ms. Lambert authored several studies, which collected data from families. In 2000, PPAL surveyed families on their experiences with access. This resulted in Speak Out for Access: The Experiences of Massachusetts Families in Obtaining Mental Health Care for their Children. Other studies have highlighted the experiences of youth as well as parents. In 2008, Medications and Choices: The Perspective of Families and Youth incorporated a youth study, which contrasted the viewpoint of youth and their parents. More recently, she has authored studies of the training needs of family partners and a HRSA-funded study of the value placed by families on the care coordination and communication elements found in medical home models. The state and managed care entities often quote the study data as well as families.
Ms. Lambert is one of five leads on a Children’s Mental Health Campaign, which has passed legislation, creating reforms and works to organize a grassroots constituency. Recently, Ms. Lambert and agency staff contracted with the state juvenile justice department to provide family peer supports to families involved with these services and the courts as well as working with agency staff, probation and court personnel. Ms. Lambert has also created a Multicultural Outreach position and implemented strategic steps to reach out to diverse communities and involve them in activities including participation in policy discussions. |
