Graduate School
Boston College School of Social Work

Undergraduate School
University of Pennsylvania

Agency
Somerville Police Department

Supervisor
Patty Contente, Director, Community Outreach, Help, and Recovery Office

Mentor
Christine Cole, Community Resources for Justice

Description of Fellowship
Joanna spent her summer with the Somerville Police Department’s Community Outreach, Help, and Recovery division. She researched the continuum of care for narcotics addiction in Somerville and the surrounding region. She was able to present her findings to the Mayor at the end of the summer at a data sharing meeting in City Hall. The research included evaluating accessibility of programs, both financial and travel-wise, services offered, and program capacity for those services. The findings will help the City identify needs for people with substance use problems and allow them to focus their efforts where those needs are. Joanna also attended crisis intervention trainings for police officers as well as recovery coach training for community members. She analyzed local police department policies regarding their crisis intervention teams in order to improve language and departmental practices.