Adult System of Care

Our adult system of care manages both mental health and substance use treatment services for adults.

Behavioral Health Services

Our behavioral health services department oversees all mental health and substance use treatment services across our system.

Care Coordination

Care Coordination is the systematic management of the System of Care to ensure that individuals with the highest level of need are being linked to community-based care and provided the appropriate supports to ensure that their treatment needs are properly addressed.

Child Welfare Coordination

Child Welfare Coordination ensures consistent integration, coordination, and planning between the Managing Entity, Community Based Care Lead Agency and other child welfare stakeholders.

Children’s System of Care

Our children’s system of care manages both mental health and substance use treatment services for children and youth.

Communications

The Communications Department manages a variety of internal and external communications, marketing, social media, media relations, public relations, civic engagement and community relations opportunities. If you are a provider and need a logo/branding review, please email cperez@thrivingmind.org.

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)

Thriving Mind’s CQI team is committed to the development, implementation, and quality assurance of the network with priority given to those areas that impact individuals served and their families.

Contracts and Procurement

Our contracts and procurement group manages all contracts with providers across our system and offers procurement opportunities to the providers.

Executive Team

Our executive team consists of John Newcomer, M.D., president and CEO; Steven Zuckerman, Senior VP and CFO, and Laura Naredo, Senior VP and COO.

Finance

Our finance team is responsible for budgeting, funding allocations, accounts payable, invoice processing, and general accounting.

Housing

Thriving Mind’s Housing Coordinator and Housing Peer are committed to finding safe, affordable, stable housing for individuals with mental health and/or co-occurring diagnoses; Ensuring that these individuals receive the necessary support services to be successful in the community.

Human Resources

Human Resources is responsible for providing financial, administrative, and clerical services, which includes processing and monitoring accounts payable, bank deposits and payroll. The Human Resources Coordinator administers a variety of human resources activities and programs, including those related to staffing, compensation, benefits ,training and workplace safety.

Information Technology and Data Analytics

Peer Services

Our Peer services team is available to assist the peer community to better serve our consumers.

Prevention System of Care

Thriving Mind South Florida provides Prevention of substance abuse and promotion of wellness (positive mental health) services in Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties as part of a continuum of behavioral health care for individuals and their families.

Research and Evaluation

Thriving Mind’s vision is that solid research and evaluation will help move behavioral health forward as a necessary and essential service for children, adults, families, and programs. Data is gathered at multiple levels and used to sustain programs and monitor fidelity. The team works with the network, community, and state partners to ensure measuring service provision for policy-relevant outcomes. The data-driven approach to manage funding to best meet the community’s needs. The evaluation data is used as a powerful tool for communicating with stakeholders. Through the use of data collection, evaluation, and analysis strategies, Thriving Mind strives to: Ensure financial strength and programmatic accountability to achieve performance outcomes and standards in the most cost effective and efficient manner possible Identify gaps in services and specialized needs Identify priority populations including, but not limited to criminal justice involved, child welfare involved, individuals served in need of trauma informed care, and co-occurring Use the collection and analysis of data to improve the network and network provider compliance and when necessary incorporate improvements into action plans.

Joanna Cardwell
Joanna Cardwell
Vice President, Continuous Quality Improvement
Lina Castellanos
Lina Castellanos
Integrator, Community and Systems and Director, Prevention
Adilen Cruz
Adilen Cruz
Vice President, Behavioral Health Services
Karol Diaz
Karol Diaz
Coordinator, Housing
Fany Flores
Fany Flores
Manager, Adult System of Care
Maria Guajardo
Maria Guajardo
Manager, Children’s System of Care
Johnny Guimaraes
Johnny Guimaraes
Vice President, Information Technology and Data Analytics
Judy Hickson
Judy Hickson
Executive Assistant
Derek Moore
Derek Moore
Peer Services Manager
Yisel Morell
Yisel Morell
Manager, Care Coordination
Laura Naredo
Laura Naredo
Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
John W. Newcomer, M.D.
John W. Newcomer, M.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
View Bio

John W. Newcomer, M.D. is President and CEO of Thriving Mind South Florida, the non-profit organization that oversees safety net mental health and substance use treatment services for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, with funding of over $135 million per year from Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF), as well as other federal, state, local and private sources. Dr. Newcomer is a board-certified psychiatrist with over 30 years of inpatient and outpatient experience delivering evidence-based and measurement-based practices. During two decades at Washington University in St. Louis, he became the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Medicine and served in leadership roles for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded General Clinical Research Center, the Clinical Translational Science Award and the Center for Clinical Studies, and he remains Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University. He also previously served as Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and as Executive Vice Dean for the College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University. In 2014 he was named to the Thomson Reuters List of Highly Cited Researchers. In the public sector, he was consecutively appointed by Governors from both parties to serve as Chair for the Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Board for the State of Missouri for 13 years, providing oversight for $1.2 billion per year in drug expenditures.

Julie Ortiz
Julie Ortiz
Coordinator, Human Resources
Carrie Ann Perez
Carrie Ann Perez
Senior Director, Communications and Strategic Initiatives
Steven  L. Proctor, Ph.D.
Steven L. Proctor, Ph.D.
Senior Program Director for Health Outcomes/Director, VOCA Trauma Recovery Network
Jessica Rodriguez
Jessica Rodriguez
Vice President, Contracts and Procurement
Alisa Surenskaya
Alisa Surenskaya
Child Welfare Integration Coordinator
Jose Vempala
Jose Vempala
Vice President, Finance
Stephen Zuckerman
Stephen Zuckerman
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Adult System of Care Behavioral Health Services Care Coordination Child Welfare Coordination Children’s System of Care Communications Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Contracts and Procurement Executive Team Finance Housing Human Resources Information Technology and Data Analytics Peer Services Prevention System of Care Research and Evaluation
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