Opioid Services Coordinator and SOTA
Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
As the Opioid Services Coordinator and the State Opiate Treatment Authority, Ms. Siembab was instrumental in expanding methadone treatment in Connecticut’s correctional system and helped create 5 methadone programs at five correctional facilities. These programs serve as a prototype for making methadone treatment available to everyone in the state correctional system who needs it. Ms. Siembab has also been instrumental in expanding MAT statewide so that treatment access is available regardless of insurance coverage, ensuring that all OTPs have a MAT-specific Recovery Coach, and that on-call Recovery Coaches are now placed in 13 hospital Emergency Departments for use when an overdose is admitted. Ms. Siembab has launched many initiatives to reduce stigma and misinformation about MAT for professionals and lay persons alike, implemented “Methadone Roundtable Meetings” for OTP Clinical Directors to ensure consistent adoption of best practices including rapid admissions, and served as a fierce advocate and collaborator for quality MAT services across the state.
