Alycia Welch

Alycia Welch, MPAff, MSSW is the program administrator of the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (SSWMHTTC), a SAMHSA-funded initiative at the Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, which is housed at Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. In this role, she oversees the implementation of training and technical assistance (TTA) in evidence-based practices for the diverse behavioral health workforce across the U.S. Health and Human Services Region VI, including AR, LA, NM, OK, TX, and multiple tribal communities. She is also responsible for developing the Center’s TTA with justice system stakeholders in the region.

Alycia has over 15 years of experience managing complex, multi-partner projects and facilitating cross-system collaboration. She developed a best practice guide for managing youth in custody that is part of a desktop manual for juvenile correctional administrators across the U.S.; she ran a transitional housing program for women after incarceration and received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation award to design an innovative study of residents’ health outcomes; she co-founded an alternative to incarceration program for young adults to meet their needs in the community; the Travis County Sheriff appointed her to an Advisory Board that developed a roadmap for a reimagined jail for women. Currently, she is organizing a grant-funded conference on the diverse needs of individuals who engage in transactional sex for socioeconomic reasons. She also chairs the board of directors for the Texas Jail Project.

The recipient of two policy research awards from the American Society for Public Administration, she has authored numerous reports and has presented at multiple conferences advising the U.S. Congress, state policymakers, agency administrators, and local elected officials on evidence-based reforms. As a policy analyst for two members of the Texas House of Representatives, she advanced several bills into law affecting individuals with mental health challenges in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.