Senior Consultants
Wayne F. Dailey, PhD
Senior Consultant
Wayne F. Dailey, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 35 years’ experience in public sector behavioral health clinical care, administration, and management. He previously served as Regional Director, Senior Policy Adviser, and Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health. Dr. Dailey has been directly involved in creating dozens of community-based mental health programs and in crafting public sector policies responsive to the needs of people with serious psychiatric and substance use conditions. He also has a special interest in building and sustaining culturally competent behavioral health services. Following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, he helped organize Connecticut’s behavioral health response for the general public, which served as a model for many other states. He was the recipient of Connecticut State Government’s Distinguished Managerial Service Award in 2003 and was honored in 2005 for his Distinguished Psychological Contribution in the Public Interest by the Connecticut Psychological Association. In 2009, Dr. Dailey retired from the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and became a private consultant. He holds an appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. In his work with the Annapolis Coalition, he served as Project Coordinator for the Behavioral Health Pacesetter Award funded by the Hitachi Foundation. Dr. Dailey led the Coalition’s national effort to identify exemplary workforce practices that improved the lives of direct care workers serving individuals with mental health and substance use conditions, while simultaneously improving client care, and the business vitality of the employer.
Manuel Paris, PsyD
Senior Consultant
Dr. Manuel Paris is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, Deputy Director of Hispanic Services for the Connecticut Mental Health Center, and Director of Training for the Latinx Track of the Yale Psychology Pre- and Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program at the Hispanic Clinic. His professional contributions focus on the evaluation of cultural/linguistic adaptations of evidence-based interventions, multisite training and fidelity monitoring, workforce development, and public policy advocacy. In these areas, he has played a key role in numerous projects and collaborated with a diverse group of stakeholders to expand the focus on Latinx behavioral health issues. He has contributed to the development and implementation of several state and federally funded projects that examine the key factors necessary to create and disseminate best practices in the treatment of individuals of Latinx descent, in addition to collaborating on efforts aimed at developing culturally and linguistically adapted protocols. An interrelated area is linked to his expertise in rigorous treatment fidelity assessment and training/education in Motivational Interviewing. In particular, Dr. Paris has collaborated on several NIH and SAMHSA funded grants with the purpose of ensuring treatment adherence and integrity by adapting study interventions for individuals of Latinx descent and training personnel to meet fidelity standards.
Jessica Wolf, PhD
Senior Consultant
Dr. Wolf is a seasoned leader with extensive public sector administrative, workforce development and teaching experience. She is Principal of Decision Solutions, a behavioral health workforce consulting practice focusing on peer workforce and career development. Also a Yale Department of Psychiatry Assistant Clinical Professor, she served as the first Director of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Education and Training Division, as a Regional Administrator in Southwestern Connecticut, and as founder, Coordinator and instructor in the Housatonic Community College MERGE Mental Health Certificate Program funded initially by a three-year federal NIMH Human Resource Development grant.
Dr. Wolf has undertaken consulting projects at national, state and local levels, in California, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia. Projects included creation of a children’s mental health foundation, organizational consultation to an advocacy organization, statewide mental health employment curriculum development, work and recovery program consultation, mental health and peer specialist curriculum development and peer support worker and peer supervisor training and webinars, as well as leading numerous projects in Connecticut’s federally funded behavioral health workforce transformation initiative.
She has been an active participant in Annapolis Coalition projects over the past decade and has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She is passionate about promoting more inclusive and welcoming organizational cultures and developing an adequately trained and compensated peer workforce with continuing education, academic credentials and career ladder opportunities. Personal and family experience with mental health conditions enhances her understanding of workforce challenges and possibilities.