Roy Starks, M.A. has many years of experience in the field of Psychiatric Rehabilitation including direct service and management.  He is currently Director of Rehabilitation Services and the Reaching Recovery project for the Mental Health Center of Denver.  In this capacity, he has helped expand the rehabilitation program from five full time employees serving 120 clients annually to 49 staff serving over 1400 annually.  Current services include supported education, supported employment, and a resource center. Most recently he worked with the recovery committee to transform MHCD to a recovery oriented mental health center. This work is focused on instruments to measure recovery and inform mental health practitioners on the recovery process. This led to his current role as Director of Reaching Recovery.  This is a project where MHCD partners with other mental health systems to assist their transformation to recovery focused mental health centers.

Roy has presented the work of MHCD with others at multiple local and national conferences, as well as recent presentations in England.  He also serves as a consultant to other mental health centers as they work toward system transformation, and consultation on high fidelity supported employment.

Linda Laganga is a Licensed Professional Counselor and certified by the National Board of Certified Counselors. She received her Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado-Boulder with a concentration in Operations Research and a minor concentration in Strategic Management. As Director of Quality Systems & Operational Excellence at MHCD, she leads and coordinates MHCD's strategic planning with the Board of Directors and staff. Her department collaborates in facilitating consumers' recovery from mental illness as MHCD develops outcome tools and learning collaboratives to drive service quality improvement. Her ongoing research and university teaching focus on management of service operations and expanding healthcare access. Published appointment scheduling research with co-author Steve Lawrence of CU-Boulder has been featured in American Medical News, Wall Street Journal On-line, the Denver Business Journal, Colorado Public Radio, and ReachMD Radio shows.

Griff McClure has over fourteen year’s of experience in vocational counseling, job coaching and training. He is currently a Vocational Program Manager at the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD). In addition, he sits on the Board of Directors of another mental health agency and is an active member of the Colorado’s Advisory Council of Persons with Disabilities. Griff has overseen the implementation of the Recovery Enhancing Environment (REE) Survey and Promoting Recovery in Mental Health Organization (PRO) Survey at MHCD for the last two years.

Dr. P. Antonio Olmos-Gallo obtained a B.S. degree in Cognitive Psychology and a Masters Degree in Applied Statistics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Denver. Dr. Olmos-Gallo has worked for MHCD for the last 10 years, where he has lead the agency in the development of an agency-wide system of outcomes, and program evaluation for MHCD’s programs. Dr. Olmos-Gallo is also associated with the University of Denver Department of Psychology, where he is an instructor teaching graduate courses on quantitative methods. Antonio has published in professional journals and has presented extensively in local, national, and international conferences on topics related to Statistical Methods, Program Evaluation and Instrument equivalence across different subpopulations. In 2007, Antonio received the Katharine Reed Cummings award for outstanding contributions to program evaluation in Colorado.

Kate DeRoche is a research methodologist focusing on improving methods for conducting research and evaluations in the social and behavioral sciences. She earned a B.S. in psychology, an MA in Human Neuropsychology, is a Candidate for a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics and Research Methods at the University of Northern Colorado. Specifically, her research interests include both qualitative and qualitative designs, including: measurement theory (Item Response Theory), longitudinal modeling (latent growth curve models), grounded theory techniques and community-based participatory research techniques.

Mr. CJ McKinney earned his Master’s degree in Human Neuropsychology from the University of Northern Colorado, where he is also completing his Doctorate in Applied Statistics. Prior to working for MHCD, he had 5 years of cognitive and behavioral research experience at both the University of Northern Colorado and University of New Mexico.

Michael Hester has been programming computers since the days of computer punch cards and FORTRAN. He has worked as a professional programmer for almost thirty years. Prior jobs include working for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder Valley School District, Neodata Services, as a private contractor, and for Advanced Computer Systems for printers.

Michael has specialized in database and web programming in the languages of English 33, Fortran, C, Perl, Visual DataFlex and C Sharp. His prior specialty was fulfillment inventory systems for large printing companies.

Shawna McGuckin brings a wealth of leadership and organizational skills to Reaching Recovery. She has 10 years experience in non-profit management. In addition to Reaching Recovery, she worked on MHCD’s Mental Health Treatment Study. Her past positions have included Director of a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program and Facilitator for the National Drug Court Institute.