Study Director: Jenny Wicks, PhD, is a Senior Research Associate within the Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH) at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. She is a health services and psychology researcher, program evaluator, and a member of the Brandeis Institutional Review Board (IRB). She specializes in mental health and substance use research, focusing on prevention and intervention strategies among youth and young adults. Her work emphasizes community-engaged approaches to identify needs, barriers, facilitators, and successful models for providing services. Her research involves the evaluation and study of MOUD treatment, early intervention, and recovery services for transitional aged youth and their families; models of social support and coping strategies; and integrated care models that support social determinants of health for individuals with co-occurring conditions and disabilities.

I-STARR Mentor: Sarah Zemore, PhD, and Sharon Reif, PhD

Pilot Study:  Jenny is conducting a community-engaged, qualitative interview study to identify the recovery support needs of young adults receiving medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and how recovery housing can facilitate young adult recovery and MOUD retention. The study emphasizes the voices of young adults receiving MOUD and will incorporate perspectives from recovery housing managers, young adult peer support staff, and MOUD providers. Interviews across multiple recovery housing models with varying characteristics will inform recovery housing model components and evidence-based practices that may best serve young adults receiving MOUD.