803.777.5293
UofSC College of Social Work, 1512 Pendleton St, Columbia, SC 29208
The Health Occupations Providing Excellence in SBIRT Program
COUNCIL OF DIRECTORS
HOPES Principal Investigator, HOPES Program Director
Clinical Associate Professor and Field Education Director
University of South Carolina College of Social Work
Dr. Melissa Reitmeier is the Program Director/Principal Investigator for the SBIRT project. Within the College of Social Work, she serves as a Clinical Associate Professor and the Director of Field Education. Dr. Reitmeier’s clinical practice is rooted in behavioral health care, and the evidence based practice of dialectical behavior therapy. In addition to her 15 years of behavioral health practice, Dr. Reitmeier has served as the primary evaluator and administrator on several grants since her appointment at the College of Social Work. Dr. Reitmeier strongly believes that field education is crucial to translating what students learn in the classroom into applicable, live field practices. She works with community partners and field instructors to prepare social work students to engage, identify, and solve social problems through evidence based modalities. She is particularly interested in finding innovative ways for social work students to engage with community issues so that both students and communities can benefit from the field education process and so that we can have a developed behavioral health workforce.
HOPES Co-Principal Investigator, HOPES SBIRT Education Director
Associate Professor
University of South Carolina College of Social Work
Dr. Aidyn Iachini is the Co-Principal Investigator of the HOPES grant and is the SBIRT Education Director, where she will serve as the primary social work faculty responsible for the delivery and evaluation of SBIRT content in the graduate social work curricula. Over the past five years, she has led several projects focused on behavioral health, motivational interviewing, and workforce development. For example, she serves as Co-Principal Investigator on the Recovery Program Transformation & Innovation Fund, which is a collaborative initiative designed to support innovative, evidence-based projects and enhance services for addictions treatment and recovery support in South Carolina. Dr. Iachini has also received funding to develop an intervention directly rooted in motivational interviewing and trains a cohort of social work graduate students each year in this approach. She also is Co-PI on the Training for Transitions grant that supports scholarships and training for students interested in behavioral health careers. Dr. Iachini strongly believes evidence-supported techniques and treatments, such as SBIRT, should be part of the education process for all health occupations professions.
Bev Baliko, PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC
HOPES Nursing Education and Site Liaison
Associate Professor
University of South Carolina College of Nursing
Dr. Beverly Baliko serves as the primary College of Nursing EASL charged with the delivery of SBIRT content. Dr. Baliko has over 15 years of experience in direct clinical care of individuals with psychiatric-mental health disorders, involving substance abuse comorbidities or at-risk behaviors. She has further clinical training and research experience with vulnerable populations at elevated risk for substance abuse, including survivors of intimate partner violence and individuals with HIV/AIDS. She is a co-coordinator of an interprofessional education course in the health sciences and represents the College of Nursing on the USC’s Interprofessional Education Committee.
Suzanne Bertollo, MD, MPH
HOPES Medical Education and Site Liaison
Program Director, PH/USC Preventive Medicine Residency
Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Dr. Suzanne Bertollo serves as a Medical School EASL and assists with onsite SBIRT training. She joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in 2011 and is actively involved in both undergraduate and graduate medical education. Dr. Bertollo is the Assistant Dean for Clinical Learning at the School of Medicine and serves as course director for the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course for second year medical students. She is also a faculty member and program director for the Palmetto Health/USC Preventive Medicine Residency.
Mary Boyd, PhD, RN
HOPES Nursing Education and Site Liaison
Associate Professor
University of South Carolina College of Nursing
Dr. Mary Boyd serves as a College of Nursing EASL in charge of delivery of SBIRT content in the graduate nursing curricula. She is a psychiatric-mental health nurse who has taught content on substance use disorders (SUD) at the undergraduate and graduate level. Dr. Boyd received her PhD from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1995 and her MN and BSN from the University of Mississippi in Jackson, MS, in 1976 and 1973, respectively.
Teri Browne, PhD, MSW
HOPES Social Work Education and Site Liaison
Associate Dean for Research
Associate Professor
University of South Carolina College of Social Work
Teri Browne, PhD, Social Work Education and Site Liaison (EASL) assists the SBIRT Education Director and Program Director with the delivery of SBIRT content into the graduate social work curricula. Dr. Browne also serves as the liaison for the project to the USC Interprofessional Education for the Health Sciences Steering Committee. She earned her Masters of Social Work at the State University of New York at Buffalo and her PhD at the University of Chicago. Browne worked as a medical social worker for 13 years and is an internationally recognized expert on nephrology social work and psychosocial barriers to chronic disease outcomes.
Casey Childers, PhD, MA
HOPES Evaluator
Research Associate
Core for Applied Research & Evaluation
University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health Office of Research
Dr. Casey Childers serves as Assistant to the Program Evaluator for the SBIRT project. She currently works for the Core for Applied Research and Evaluation (CARE) as a Research Associate in the Arnold School of Public Health, Office of Research at USC. Dr. Childers evaluates a variety of statewide programs around mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention, with a data-driven decision-making approach. Prior to working at CARE, she was a graduate assistant in the Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities while earning her doctorate in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at USC. Dr. Childers has a background in social work and communications.
Andrew J Flaherty, PhD Candidate, MSW
HOPES Co-Program Manager
University of South Carolina College of Social Work
Mr. Flaherty is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of South Carolina, College of Social Work studying the effectiveness of substance use and recovery programs. Previously, Mr. Flaherty worked as a clinical social worker, specializing in adolescent mental health services, and substance use treatment and recovery. Additionally, Mr. Flaherty’s research interests include behavioral health programs and services, program evaluation, social work education, and congregational social work.
Garrett Helms, LISW- CPS
HOPES Medical Education and Site Liaison
Instructor of Clinical Family and Preventive Medicine
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Garrett Helms is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and an Instructor of Clinical Family and Preventive Medicine. Mr. Helms serves as a Medical School EASL and Family and Preventive Medicine Trainer conducting SBIRT skills practice training of 3rd Year Medical Students. Mr. Helms joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in August of 2010, with 14 years of experience as a therapist in the Columbia Area. His experiences include serving as the primary therapist for adolescent partial hospitalization, a supervising therapist for Geriatric PHP, and a cognitive Behavioral Therapist for Intensive Outpatient. Mr. Helms specializes in treating trauma-related behavioral health issues, anxiety disorders, behavioral and substance use disorders, and affective disorders of all types.
Alan Lyme, LISW, ICCS, ICADC, MAC
HOPES Regional SBIRT Trainer
Training Director
The Phoenix Center of Greenville
Center of Excellence
Mr. Lyme brings respected and innovative clinical and program management skills as the Director of Training for the Phoenix Center in Greenville, South Carolina. Alan is a HOPES clinical trainer, having held similar positions in three previous SBIRT grants, including three years for the State of SC, and five years for the State of Georgia. Alan also provided clinical skills and Motivational Interviewing training for the RESBIRT grant at Mercer University in Macon, GA. Prior to moving to Georgia he worked for ten years in addictions treatment in Florida. He received a BSW from Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL) in 1998 and a MSW from Barry University (Miami Shores, FL) in 1999. Alan is a member of MINT (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers), an Internationally Certified Clinical Supervisor, and an Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, and a Master Addiction Counselor.
David Murday, PhD
HOPES Program Evaluator
PhD, Research Associate
Core for Applied Research & Evaluation
University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health Office of Research
Dr. David Murday serves as the Program Evaluator. He is currently a Research Associate at the Core for Applied Research & Evaluation, USC Arnold School of Public Health and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Health Services Policy & Management. He retired as Director of the Center for Health Services & Policy Research in 2009. From 2009-2015, he served as the Director for Evaluation & Quality Improvement for the SC Clinical & Translational Research Institute, based at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. Dr. Murday assists the Project Director in overseeing the Data Collection and Performance Measurement activities. He has 20+ years of evaluation experience as well as more recent experience in quality improvement methods.
Matt Orr, PhD
HOPES Medical Education and Site Liaison
Associate Professor of Clinical Family and Preventive Medicine
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Dr. Matt Orr serves as the primary Medical School EASL charged with the delivery of SBIRT content into the Year 3 Medical School curricula. Dr. Orr has served as Director of Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine for the last 8 years. He is also a Senior Associate for Professional Development in the Office of Continuous Professional Development and Strategic Affairs. He came to the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in 2008 from Mercer University School of Medicine where he was an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Marriage and Family Therapy Program. There he served as Director of the Medical Family Therapy Fellowship, Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Post-Masters' Certificate Program, and the Marriage and Family Therapy Off-site Practicum Coordinator. He is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers and works extensively in undergraduate and graduate medical education teaching the application of brief intervention strategies for mental health problems and interviewing for effective behavior change, including Motivational Interviewing.
Shilpa Srinivasan, MD
HOPES School of Medicine SBIRT Faculty Expert
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
Program Director- Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship
Director- M4 Psychiatry Clerkship
Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Dr. Shilpa Srinivasan is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of South Carolina’s School of Medicine and director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program at Palmetto Health- USCSOM. Dr. Srinivasan has over 10 years of clinical experience in the psychiatric care of geriatric and adult patients including those with co-occurring substance use disorders. She is an experienced clinician-educator with expertise in training medical students, residents, and fellows across psychiatry and primary care settings. Dr. Srinivasan serves as the faculty expert SBIRT consultant having successfully acquired a previous SBIRT grant through SAMHSA.
Additional Staff
Rebecca Christopher, MSW, LMSW
HOPES Project Coordinator
Field Education Coordinator
University of South Carolina College of Social Work
Ms. Christopher currently serves as the Field Education Coordinator at the College of Social Work where she works to place and produce the next generation of social work practitioners. Ms. Christopher has co-created online content on opioid use and medication assisted treatment that has been integrated into the HOPES program and class curricula in the College of Social Work. She earned both her BSW and MSW degrees from the College of Social Work at the University of South Carolina. In addition to her role within the college, Ms. Christopher’s research interests include: rural and behavioral health, substance use, health disparities and education, recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals, and multi-and interprofessional collaboration.
L. Bailey King, MSW, LMSW
HOPES Project Coordinator
University of South Carolina College of Social Work
Ms. King serves as a Project Coordinator for the HOPES program through the University of South Carolina College of Social Work. Ms. King has co-created online content on opioid use and medication assisted treatment that has been integrated into the HOPES program and class curricula in the College of Social Work. Ms. King earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at Wofford College and earned her Master of Social Work degree from the College of Social Work at the University of South Carolina. Ms. King's research interests include: rural health workforce, behavioral health programs and services, health information accessibility, social work education, community engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration.