Staff

Lydia Franco, PhD, LMSW

Lydia Franco, PhD, LMSW is Senior Director of Education and Innovation and a member of the Senior Leadership Team at the McSilver Institute. She is also the Director of the Community Technical Assistance Center of New York (CTAC), a statewide training and technical assistance center for licensed mental health providers.

Previously, Dr. Franco co-led the development of the 4 Rs and 2 Ss for Strengthening Families model, an evidence-based practice, and managed the NIMH-funded study that assessed its effectiveness within real world mental health clinics.

Dr. Franco has led a variety of technical assistance projects, including for the Connections to Care program through ThriveNYC. Moreover, she provides training and technical assistance expertise locally and nationally on engagement best practices, family strengthening approaches, workforce resilience, coaching and supervision, implementation science, and culturally responsive services.

Dr. Franco has clinical experience working with children and families in outpatient mental health. She was awarded with the SAMHSA-funded Council on Social Work Education’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minority Doctoral Fellowship Program and the 2019 NASW-NYC Sapphire Leadership Award. She received her PhD in Social Work from Rutgers University and her MSSW degree from Columbia University.