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Courtney David Selected to Serve As Executive Director of the NYS Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors

Albany, New York – the New York State Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors (CLMHD) is pleased to announce that it has named Courtney David as its new Executive Director, effective March 1, 2022.

"Courtney has been with the Conference for several years as the Director of Governmental Relations and is known to many of our members and key partners. During her years with the CLMHD, Courtney has demonstrated her abilities as a leader, collaborator, advocate, and valued professional,” said Katherine G. Alonge-Coons, CLMHD Chair. “We welcome Courtney into this new leadership role and look forward to continuing to work toward ensuring access to quality behavioral healthcare treatment and prevention services to the residents of New York State.”

Courtney joined the Conference in 2018, after serving over a decade as a government affairs consultant, successfully representing various clients from diverse industries before the Executive and Legislative Branches of State government.  Prior to this, she served on staff to a former Deputy Majority Leader of the NYS Senate where she developed an extensive understanding of state policy and the public policy process. Strong strategic development skills, coupled by  her ability to maintain positive working relationships on both sides of the aisle, has allowed for the advancement of a wide range of legislative and regulatory priorities for the clients she has served.

As Director of Governmental Relations, Courtney has successfully raised the profile of the membership with key decision-makers, which has reinforced the role of the LGUs as critical resources and stakeholders in the development and implementation of behavioral health policy. Her collaborative engagement style and in-depth understanding of priority areas of interest has led to several noteworthy victories for the Conference.   

“I am honored to be provided the opportunity to serve in this new capacity. Since coming to the Conference, I have been truly inspired by the membership’s dedication to the individuals and families they support as part of the local mental hygiene system. Not only do our members work day in and day out to develop comprehensive, integrated and cost-effective systems for the cross-system coordination of multiple local services, they maintain the ability to achieve this while navigating through various legislative and regulatory challenges and changing political environments. Because of this, I couldn’t be more excited to further the goals of the Conference, our Commissioners and their counties,” said Courtney David, Executive Director. 

“This appointment comes at a crucial time as our society struggles with the mental health and substance abuse aftershocks of the COVID pandemic. Courtney David has the energy, experience and passion for public service that is required to lead the NYS Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors as it works to strengthen local mental health services in our communities. We welcome Courtney to this important role and look forward working with her in the coming year to provide the mental health services that will be crucial to helping New Yorkers recover from the often unseen symptoms of this pandemic,” said Stephen J. Acquario, Executive Director, NYS Association of Counties.

As part of Courtney’s new position as Executive Director, she will assist the Conference as it works to implement a new strategic planning process to inform the role of supporting local government in ensuring that New Yorkers have access to high quality mental health, substance use disorder, and intellectual/developmental disabilitiesservices.   

The New York State Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors (the Conference) is a statewide membership organization consisting of the Commissioner/Director of each of the state’s 57 county mental hygiene departments (encompassing mental health, substance use and intellectual/ developmental disabilities) and the mental hygiene department of the City of New York. Also known as the Local Governmental Unit (LGU), the DCSs are county officials and have specific responsibilities and authority under the Local Services provisions of Article 41 of the Mental Hygiene Law (MHL) for planning, development, implementation, and oversight of services to adults and children in their counties affected by mental illness, substance use disorder, and intellectual/developmental disabilities.

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New York State Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors
41 State St., Suite 505, Albany, NY 12207
(518) 462-9422 FAX (518) 465-2695
 www.clmhd.org