Director for Mental Health Initiatives, Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University
For over forty years in the public, private, and academic sectors Dr. Shaheen has been instrumental in improving policies and programs that help people with mental illnesses, co-occurring substance abuse disorders and those who are homeless, including veterans, to achieve employment and/or entrepreneurial success. He has worked with HUD, SAMHSA, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and DOL Veterans Employment and Training Services, Veterans Administration, and numerous State Governments on projects focused on increasing employment for these populations throughout the United States and its Territories, and internationally. He developed curricula and was a lead trainer for the Syracuse University (SU) Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). While serving as Senior Vice President of the SU Burton Blatt Institute (BBI), Gary developed the StartUp NY and SBA PRIME projects with colleagues at the SU Whitman School of Management to create entrepreneurship education and training in Onondaga County, NY for people with disabilities and others with low incomes including Veterans. He co-wrote New York State’s $5.9 million per year Medicaid Infrastructure Grant and was Co-PI for that 3 year initiative. He served as an Adjunct faculty at the Whitman School, co-teaching “Inclusive Entrepreneurship Consulting” – a course he co-created that received a Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence in 2010. He was Senior Evaluator for the ODEP Employment First, Disability Employment Initiative, and Pathways to Careers projects. These projects supported competitive, integrated employment and access to post-secondary education and career development for youth and adults with diverse disabilities. Since 2019, Dr. Shaheen has consulted on numerous projects addressing employment and entrepreneurship among persons with disabilities. These have included expert facilitation of Roundtables to improve employment among persons with substance abuse disabilities sponsored by the US DOL Office of the Chief Evaluator, and toolkits and white papers produced for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Project (HVRP) National Technical Assistance Center supporting Career Pathways and Entrepreneurship approaches that increase economic stability among Veterans who are homeless. Gary currently directs projects and consults on employment and disability policy and practices for BBI.
Episode 144: The California Project on Psychiatric Advanced Directives