Susan Pickett, Ph.D.

Susan
Pickett

Director of R&E

Susan Pickett, Ph.D., is Director of Research and Evaluation at Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP) and has more than 30 years of experience in mental health services research. She has designed and implemented numerous rigorous, federally funded studies examining the effectiveness of health services for diverse and underserved populations, including adults and youth with behavioral health disorders. Dr. Pickett has expertise in program evaluation, quantitative and qualitative methods and analyses, project management, and strategic planning. She has published widely on behavioral health care and peer-led mental health services, family education and support, and homelessness and employment.

Currently, Dr. Pickett is the evaluation director for two Illinois Intact Family Recovery (IFR) Program Regional Partnership Grant (RPG) projects, U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF)–funded initiatives that examine outcomes for families involved in the child welfare system who are receiving integrated substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. She also directs the process evaluations of the multiple opioid prevention, treatment, and recovery projects supported by Illinois’ federally funded State Opioid Response (SOR) grant. At the systems level, Dr. Pickett oversees the planning process for the State of Illinois’ State Overdose Action Plan, helping Illinois create and implement its strategic plan to address its opioid crisis.

Before joining AHP, Dr. Pickett was an associate professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and co-principal investigator of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)–funded UIC National Research and Training Center (NRTC) on Psychiatric Disability. As the associate director for systems transformation and strategic planning at the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health, Dr. Pickett worked with state and local agencies to develop data-driven policies to better equip the current system to provide high-quality, community-based primary and behavioral health care to indigent adults and children. Dr. Pickett serves on the editorial board for the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal and is a recent past chair of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Serious Mental Illness. Dr. Pickett received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Chicago.