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The Hub: Behavioral Health Action Organization for Southwestern CT
A division of the Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership (RYASAP)
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Introducing The Hub!
We are the state-designated Regional Behavioral Health Action Organization (RBHAO) serving Southwest Connecticut. We are a regional resource supporting and coordinating mental health, suicide awareness, substance use prevention and problem gambling efforts in the 14 communities from Greenwich through Greater Bridgeport and serving as the liaison between the region and state. We support the Local Prevention Councils in each town to prevent substance use and promote mental health, and we bring consumers and providers together through our Catchment Area Councils to identify needs and recommendations in the treatment and recovery systems.
The Hub is a program of the Regional Youth-Adult Social Action Partnership (RYASAP).
Scroll down to see our staff & advisory board. To get involved, contact us at info@thehubct.org
Our Staff
Giovanna Mozzo, MSW
Director
Giovanna is a social worker and substance misuse prevention professional who's been in the prevention field for the last 5 years. She has 20 years of experience in social work, including 7 years with DSS and 6 years at Chapel Haven. For the last 2 years she has served as an Adjunct Professor for Western CT State University; where she has taught in the Social Work Program and at Housatonic Community College teaching an Ethics course for the Human Services program. She is also a field supervisor for WCSU undergraduate program and Sacred Heart's Master of Social Work program. Giovanna is a suicide prevention trainer in safeTALK, Talk Saves Lives, and Question Persuade and Refer (QPR). As well as an A-SBIRT and Narcan trainer. With already having a full plate at work and home she finds time to work for Living Waters Therapy Services as a Therapist. She has an MSW from Fordham University, a BSW from SCSU, and is fluent in Italian.
Contact Giovanna at: gmozzo@thehubct.org
Daniella Arias, MPH, CHES
Program Coordinator
Daniella serves as a liaison between individual communities to facilitate needs assessment and local capacity building around behavioral health needs. As Program Coordinator, she leads the Local Prevention Councils (LPCS) in the 14 towns in SW CT. She also focuses on efforts around vaping and tobacco/nicotine prevention. Prior to joining The Hub, she worked for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England helping individuals with mental health and substance use issues, as well as the expansion of primary care services. She earned her bachelor's degree in public health from Southern Connecticut State University and Masters of Public Health from Sacred Heart University. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist. When not working, you can find her trying new restaurants or reading Reese’s Book Club book of the month.
Contact Daniella at: darias@ryasap.org
Recovery Friendly Workplace Manager
Jeremy is a social worker/youth advocate and justice reformist who has been in the nonprofit field for over 13 years. Jeremy has worked in variety of roles across this time, ranging from youth counselor to more recently as Director for the City of Juvenile Review Board 2011-2020 and as a Social Worker with the Department of Children and Families Connecticut 2020-2021. In 2019 Jeremy was the recipient of the Senator Blumenthal CT Person of the year for work with reentry population (www.ctreentry.org) prior to entering the nonprofit world, Jeremy was an avid Rugby League Player who represented the United States National Team the Tomahawk’s at the international stage on multiple occasions. Jeremy also competed in the 2010 CrossFit Games team competition placing 10th in the world. When Jeremy isn’t engaged in work he enjoys traveling internationally and seeing the world with his family, spending time outdoors and seeing friends.
Jeremy will be focusing much of his efforts on the Recovery Workplace Initiative. If you'd like to become a certified RFW or want to know more about the initiative please reach out to him directly at: jeremy@ryasap.org
Jeremy Kosbob
Kaitlin Comet, MA
Program Coordinator
Kaitlin (she/her) began at The Hub as an Americorps Prevention Corps member working on community-focused solutions in opioid education, awareness, and stigma-reduction. After completing her one-year service term, she was invited to continue working with The Hub as a Program Coordinator. As Program Coordinator, she leads the Region 1 Catchment Area Council (CAC) initiatives as well as oversees four Local Prevention Councils. She is also a Co-Chair for the Greater Bridgeport Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) Behavioral Health Task Force and a Board Member for the NAMI Southwest CT chapter. She is a certified Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) trainer, Naloxone trainer and NAMI SMARTS on Advocacy Trainer. Kaitlin graduated from the Forensic Psychology BA/MA program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. She is currently pursuing a second Master's degree in Social Work. She has a passion for youth mental health as she worked as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Counseling & Human Services at John Jay for three years, and continues to work with at-risk youth through the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) in NYC. She is involved in advocacy for a more accessible and equitable behavioral healthcare system as well as LGBTQIA+ education and rights. Her work is driven by lived personal experiences and a strong passion to contribute to thriving communities.
Victoria O’Neill
Program Coordinator
Upon her completion of an AmeriCorps service term at The Hub Victoria O’Neill (she/her/hers) was brought on to the team to act as a Program Coordinator. Much of Victoria's work is focused on suicide prevention and post vention and working to reduce the stigma surrounding the topic. After earning her bachelors degree in Sociology with a concentration in Social Services and a minor in Gender Studies at Quinnipiac University, Victoria went on to study Social Work at Fordham University. Victoria is currently in her first year of her Master's program here and hopes to continue her work empowering and educating those with substance use disorder and mental health diagnoses. She is passionate about issues surrounding social, economic, and racial justice as well as combating issues of stigmatization around vulnerable populations.
Contact Victoria: victoria@ryasap.org
Our Regional Advisory Board
We gratefully recognize the Interim Regional Advisory Board members who are serving as the initial steering committee for The Hub, representing stakeholder groups from our whole region:
Tina Corlett (Co-Chair), Marc Donald (Co-Chair), Sue Buchsbaum, Joanne Butler, Alicia Feller, Chloe Kelly, Marcea Koffsky, Melissa McGarry, Ed Milton, Carlos Reinoso, Louis Schulman, Bianca Shinn-Desras, Rev. Debra Slade, Vanity Vázquez, Kate Venison, Denique Weidema-Lewis, Maggie Young.