“I hope my report documenting the mental health and substance abuse crisis and the Evidence-based strategies to improve crisis response training will help the office better target stakeholders.”

Summer responsibilities: Frankie supported the Division of Clinical Quality Management

And the Office of Crisis Supports and Services. For the latter, he redesigned its Crisis Services program. He analyzed training data to identify locations in the Commonwealth that are in need of mobile crisis responders and helped develop a framework to measure equity, licensing standards, and utilization.

Background: In his current doctoral research, Frankie uses high-fidelity manikins and opioid overdose scenarios to measure rescuers’ resuscitation skills, including naloxone administration, ventilations, and chest compressions. Furthermore, he is working with an authorized comprehensive harm reduction program (otherwise known as a syringe exchange program) to test the effectiveness of an adaptive just-in-time intervention to increase the presence and administration of naloxone in contexts familiar to people who use or inject opioids.