Jeanne Russo, MA, has over 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field. For the last 25 years she has provided leadership to programs funded by the Department of Mental Health (DMH) in Massachusetts. Most significantly she provided oversight of the operations of a community-based mental health provider located in Chelsea MA; with an operating budget of 30 million dollars, serving 2000+ people through a variety of services. Over the last 15 years she has provided leadership to the staff and programs for the community-based services in the northeast area of Vinfen funded by the DMH; as well as outpatient services.

In July of 2019, she moved to the position of Senior Vice President of Community-Based Mental Health at Vinfen – providing leadership and operational oversight to programs and services that support over 5000+ people in a variety of settings. She has developed and designed community-based services in her varied roles to provide services and supports to adults with mental health conditions to live and work in their communities. These include fidelity-based models of PACT and ACT and Individualized Placement and Support, and the fidelity informed model of the Transition to Independence Program.

Ms. Russo has spent much of her career focused on providing services to people from underserved communities. Ms. Russo also spent ten years in the communities of Chelsea, Revere, East Boston, Winthrop, and Boston working with 50% newcomer populations that were primarily Hispanic in Chelsea and East Boston. She developed specialized outpatient, day treatment, and outreach support to this community as well as providing direct oversight to the Southeast Asian American Team, which was a collaborative group consisting of her current agency, North Suffolk Mental Health, Boston Children’s Hospital, and The Dimock Center. This team worked with Chinese, Cambodian, and Vietnamese immigrants and developed specialized outreach, outpatient, and housing support to this community. Ms. Russo also implemented a specialized outreach team that provided supported housing services to Deaf individuals. Her most recent scope of work prior to running the Division was in the northeast area of Massachusetts in the cities of Lawrence, Lowell, and Haverhill and surrounding towns. These cities and towns are diverse both culturally and ethnically and she is experienced in providing culturally competent services for persons that are bilingual and bicultural in Spanish and Khmer.

Jeanne received her Master of Counseling from Assumption College. She developed, designed, and implemented the Transitions to Independence Program (TIP) that serves transition age youth and young adults in a strength-based model in collaboration with Hewitt B. Clark, the model-developer. She worked collaboratively with the DMH and Children’s Friends and Family (now JRI) to obtain the Healthy Transitions Grant known as YouForward – awarded to the DMH from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and has sat as a member on the Interagency Committee advising the program. She also sat on the Stakeholder Advisory Committee that informed the development of the community mental health system Adult Community Clinical Services.