Tamarie Willis

Dr. Willis is a recent Society for Research in Child Development and American Association for the Advancement of Science Public Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She also served as the Manager for Reentry Initiatives at the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at Wayne State University where she oversaw all federal and state grants related to reentry programming.

In her role as lead evaluator, she managed a reentry program for individuals with cooccurring substance use and mental illness within nine prisons and three jails in Michigan. There, she navigated the complex relationships between county stakeholders, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, community partners, and systems including community mental health, county jails, Michigan Department of Corrections, probation/parole, case managers, and peer support specialists. The program aimed to expand the availability of substance use treatment/recovery options for reentering persons; reduce overdoses and relapses of program participants; improve mental health outcomes; and reducing recidivism.

Her current research examined the interface of the criminal legal system and child welfare public policies, specifically the impact of child welfare policy on incarcerated parents and the clinical, educational, and behavioral outcomes for their children in state care. Her child welfare work and published research includes identifying some essential skills and competencies to promote permanency and foster youth transition to adulthood. Her criminal justice published research spans police interactions with individuals with mental illness and substance use disorder, law enforcement training on crisis intervention, and police use of force. She remains committed to the continuum of problem identification, research, policy, and program development. Dr. Willis holds a Ph.D. in Social Work with minors in criminal justice and statistics from Wayne State University, and a graduate certificate in Mixed Methods Research Analysis from the University of Michigan.