FACULTY
ACADEMY
Academy for Justice-Informed Practice
Behavioral Health-Criminal Justice Certificate Program
Faculty List – 2014
The Academy faculty is comprised of professionals from across the criminal justice, legal and behavioral health fields who have expertise that is rooted in years of experience in the overlapping worlds of criminal justice and behavioral health. The following is a list of our distinguished faculty.
Mary Beth Anderson, LMSW, JD Project Director
Mental Health Project Urban Justice Center
Mary Beth Anderson is currently the Director of the Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project. Prior to this she was the Director of Social Work and Investigation Services at Brooklyn Defender Services. Before that, she had along career at the Legal Aid Society where she was the founding director of a city-wide project providing comprehensive social work and legal services to clients with mental illness and substance abuse issues. Ms. Anderson has extensive training experience, and has created and conducted training on mental health/criminal justice issues for a wide variety of organizations. She is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law and Hunter College School of Social Work.
Nancy Andino
Community Corrections Representative II
New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives
Nancy Andino has worked in the field of juvenile and criminal justice for more than 33 years. Ms. Andino began her career with the New York City Department of Probation where she worked for 20 years. Ms. Andino currently works for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives. She works with Probation Departments and community corrections programs across the state, providing consultation and monitoring services to funded programs. Nancy has most recently been involved in an effort to train alternative to incarceration program professionals in evidence based practices, including the Fundamentals for Community Corrections, Thinking for a Change and Interactive Journaling.
Virginia Barber-Rioja, PhD Clinical Director
EAC-Forensic Link Court Mental Health Diversion Program and Brooklyn TASC
Dr. Virginia Barber Rioja earned a Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology and a Ph.D. in Clinical Forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. From 2009 to 2011 Dr. Barber-Rioja was the clinical director of the Queens TASC Mental Health Diversion Program, which works in collaboration with the Queens Mental Health Court. She
subsequently worked as an attending psychologist in the Forensic Inpatient Unit at Bellevue Hospital Center. Dr. Barber Rioja has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals, co-authored a chapter on jail diversion models published by Springer and has presented at numerous national and international conferences. She is an adjunct professor at New York University and a Professor of Psychiatry at New York University Medical Center.
Susan Batkin, MSW Project Manager
Academy for Justice Informed Practice CUCS Institute
Ms. Batkin is the Project Manager for the Academy for Justice Informed Practice (The Academy), an educational initiative providing training and technical assistance to New York City’s workforce serving people with mental illness and criminal justice involvement. Ms. Batkin has over 20 years of experience developing, delivering and coordinating training programs targeting varied professional audiences. Prior joining CUCS, Ms. Batkin was the Director of Helpline Operations and Volunteer Management at the Medicare Rights Center. Prior to that, Ms. Batkin served as the Director of Social Work at the Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project. She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the Hunter College School of Social Work. She currently serves on the board of the Sky Light Center, a
psychosocial clubhouse on Staten Island.
Rudy De La Haya
Assistant Director, Curriculum Development CUCS Institute
Karen Dubin-McKnight, LCSW
Director, Manhattan Court-Based Intervention and Resource Team (CIRT) CASES
Karen Dubin-McKnight returned to CASES as the Director of the Manhattan Court-based Intervention and Resource Team (CIRT) in December 2013. The CIRT program will serve youth and adults with behavioral health needs in misdemeanor and felony alternative to detention (ATD) and alternative to incarceration (ATI) services.
Ms. Dubin-McKnight started at CASES in May 2000 as a staff member in the Nathaniel Project after she graduated from the Columbia University School of Social Work. In 2004, Karen left CASES and worked at MercyFirst’s residential treatment program providing direct services to boys with juvenile justice involvement for sexual offenses. For eight years following that, she worked at the Legal Aid Society advocating for persons with behavioral health needs charged with misdemeanor and felony offenses to help them access
community-based treatment over incarceration. Ms. Dubin-McKnight is also an adjunct professor at Adelphi University where she teaches social work courses and is currently completing her PhD in Social Work.
Alex Garcia-Mansilla, PhD Clinical Director
Queens TASC Mental Health Diversion EAC Network
Alexandra Garcia-Mansilla is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with over ten years experience working with people with serious mental disorders involved with the criminal justice
system. She received her PhD from Fordham University in Clinical Psychology with a
forensic specialization. Prior to earning her PhD, she was a licensed Clinical Social Worker, having received her Masters in Social Work from New York University, and she received her BA from Harvard University. She has trained in various forensic psychiatric settings
James Hollywood, LCSW
Assistant Vice President, Residential Services Samaritan Village
James Hollywood provides clinical leadership and management to five residential substance abuse treatment programs serving over 700 clients. With more than 20 years of experience working in the fields of substance abuse, mental health and homeless services, Mr.
Hollywood is charged with developing and enhancing the agency’s use of evidence based practices in treatment.
Mr. Hollywood has worked to develop skills among the counseling staff in delivering
motivational interviewing and cognitive behavior based therapies. He is also working on the expansion of Samaritan’s use of medically assisted recovery and withdrawal management. Prior to joining Samaritan, Mr. Hollywood worked at Palladia, a New York City based social service agency, where he successfully implemented enhancements to address co-occurring mental health and substance use. Mr. Hollywood helped develop "Let's Get Organized," a program to help clients improve organization and time management skills to facilitate successful reentry into community life. This intervention was recognized by U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as an innovative practice.
Mr. Hollywood holds a BA in Sociology from St. John's University and graduated with an MSW from Hunter College School of Social Work.
Alexandra LaMantia, MA Coordinator
Link H.O.M.E EAC Network
Merrill Rotter, MD
Director of Forensic Services, Bronx Psychiatric Center
Medical Director, EAC TASC Mental Health Diversion Programs Associate Clinical Professor Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Dr. Merrill Rotter is a forensic psychiatrist working at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Law and Psychiatry for the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Rotter received his B.A. /M.D. from the Boston University Six-Year Combined Liberal Arts Medical Education Program. Trained in clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and in forensic psychiatry at Yale, Dr. Rotter leads a program of teaching, research and clinical service for Einstein as well as the New York State Office of Mental Health. In his OMH role, Dr. Rotter is Director of the Division of Forensic Services at Bronx Psychiatric Center and Senior Consultant to the Division of Forensic Services. In addition, Dr. Rotter is the Medical Director of the EAC and its NYC TASC Mental Health Programs. Dr. Rotter is Project Director of SPECTRM, a nationally-recognized research, training and treatment program aimed at helping to meet the needs individuals with mental illness who have a history of incarceration. Dr. Rotter has
presented and published in areas related to forensic training, risk assessment, treatment and management of mentally ill offenders, the insanity defense and mental health
diversion. In 2009, Dr. Rotter received the Award for Outstanding Teacher in a Forensic Fellowship Program from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
John Volpe, LCSW
Special Advisor on Criminal Justice and Mental Health NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
A graduate of Georgetown University and Hunter College School of Social Work, John has worked with many diverse NYC populations in a human service career including the provision of case management within the NYC foster care system, developing a Bronx-based program for children with a serious emotional disturbance, leading a
