Tamara Cohen Daley, Ph.D.

Tamara Daley has 20 years of behavioral health, disability, and social-policy project leadership and evaluation experience. She brings expertise from work with a variety of federal agencies, including Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Institute of Mental Health, Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Social Security Administration, and Department of state. She also has worked with foundations, city governments, and universities. Daley designs and conducts research in behavioral health, from qualitative and mixed-methods studies and survey design to evaluability assessments.

Daley leads business development for behavioral health opportunities with a focus on developing client relationships and overseeing capture and proposal efforts. She supports Abt’s behavioral health efforts across other federal agencies, at the state level, and with foundations. She also coordinates communication and collaboration with more than 50 Abt staff who have experience in behavioral health areas.

Daley comes to Abt after 15 years at Westat, where she worked on more than 20 single-site, multi-site, and longitudinal evaluations. She has used process, impact, outcome, and summative evaluation frameworks to study diverse populations and social issues. Among young adult populations, her previous work includes evaluations of community programs to serve young adults experiencing first-episode psychosis and transitional and crisis programs for youth experiencing homelessness.

Daley also brings expertise in evaluation of federal special education policy, including leading the National Evaluation of the Technical Assistance and Dissemination program. Daley has a specialty in autism, particularly within a cross-cultural context.

Expertise

• Child and adolescent mental health
• First-episode psychosis
• Federal special education policy
• Mixed-method evaluation
• Ethnography

Key Projects

• SAMHSA Evidence Based Resource Center
• Administration for Children and Families Office of Refugee Resettlement Trauma-Informed Training Initiative
• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Translation Center

Selected Publications

• Daley, T.C., George, P., Goldman, H.H., Krenzke, T., Zhu, X. et al (2022). Client Racial Composition in First-Episode Psychosis Programs Compared With Compositions in Program Service Areas. Psychiatric Services. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202100587
• Holt, W., Hahn, Ireland, A., T, Daley, T.C., & Rosenblatt, A. (2021). Paths toward sustainable Systems of Care. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 48(4), 517-536.
• Rog, D.J., Reidy, M.C., Manian, N., Daley, T.C., & Lieberman, L. (2021) Opportunities for Psychologists to Enact Community Change through ACEs, Trauma, and Resilience Networks. American Psychologist, 76(2), 379-390.
• Daley, T.C., Jones, N., George, P, & Rosenblatt, A. (2020). First-Person Accounts of Personal Change Among Young Adults Experiencing a First Episode of Psychosis. Psychiatric Services, 71(12), 1277-1284.
• Jones, N., Gius, B., Daley, T.C., & Rosenblatt, A. & Shern, D. (2020). Coordinated specialty care discharge, transition and step-down policies, practices and concerns: Staff and client perspectives. Psychiatric Services, 71(5), 487-497.
• Daley, T.C. (2016). Lessons learned from parents of adults with autism in India. In M.C. Hay (Ed.), Methods that matter: Integrating mixed methods for more effective social science research. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.