Melissa Silvey: Melissa Silvey has spent over two decades working in the fields of prevention, treatment, and recovery support. She believes that strong team leadership coupled with research can create opportunities for collaboration, cutting-edge programming, and training. 

Throughout her career, Melissa has worked for grassroots organizations that serve children, youth, and families, providing training and technical assistance to over 20 national Youth Safe Haven and Quantum Opportunities Program sites throughout the United States. She has worked as a substance misuse prevention coordinator, continuum of care manager, and director of public health in New Hampshire’s Regional Public Health Network system. Melissa was the first to encourage the Dover Youth to Youth program to develop a toolkit and monetize it so they would have a sustainable funding source. She also encouraged them to go through the Service to Science evaluation process. The toolkit is still in use throughout the country. 

Amid the opioid crisis, Melissa helped facilitate a multisector regional opioid taskforce that created targeted videos to educate medical providers about what questions to ask when prescribing opioids. She has planned large-scale events targeting opioids and other drugs that attracted attendees from all over New Hampshire and was a co-founder of SOS Recovery Organization in Dover and Rochester. 

Melissa was the first in the state to ensure that SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) was done for patients 12 and older at the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) where she worked. She was a fierce advocate for getting doctors and nurse practitioners waivered to prescribe buprenorphine. Melissa worked with the Strafford County Addiction Taskforce, taking a harm reduction approach to the opioid crisis. A Strafford County Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner wrote standing orders for naloxone, and Melissa and the Taskforce lobbied pharmacists to dispense it. That effort at the county level prompted the state’s public health Medical Director to write standing orders for naloxone statewide. Melissa continued to lobby and educate pharmacists and challenge corporations to change their policies and allow family members and loved ones access to naloxone in advance of the state’s purchase and distribution of 5,000 units. 

Melissa has always been an early adopter of innovative strategies. This approach helped her bring a variety of strategies to bear to lower the overdose rate. Melissa was involved in the Governor’s Commission on Alcohol and Other Drugs’ Opioid Taskforce, representing Regional Public Health Networks, and has also had a seat on the Governor’s Commission’s subcommittee for healthcare. 

Melissa is passionate about tracking outcomes. Evaluation is critical in any project Melissa takes on. As the FQHC Director of Public Health, she was involved in continuous quality improvement (CQI) that tracked 94 data sets monthly and informed patient care. Melissa has a passion for collaboration and change management that can improve outcomes across the continuum. Melissa has a master’s degree in leadership from Granite State College, where she studied change management and project management. She was so passionate about recovery capital that she wrote her Capstone paper on the topic. 

Melissa lives in Barrington, NH, with her dog, Savannah, and works for Growth Partners, LLC, directing the NH Training and Technical Assistance Center (NHTAC).