Karen Pressman has over 45 years’ experience in the addiction field and has been in recovery for over 48 years. She has been clinical director of multicultural, gender responsive residential and outpatient treatment facilities, director of youth services, a community organizer, and was the director of program planning and development in the State of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Substance Addiction Services. Ms. Pressman taught courses on substance use treatment and policy at Springfield College, School of Human Services and the University of Massachusetts, College of Public and Community Service. Ms. Pressman was a member of the MA Bureau of Substance Addiction Services Senior Management Team.
Before her retirement, she designed the Bureau’s federal grant development system which brought over 30 million dollars of federal grants to the state. Besides overseeing development and management of federal grants, she was the women and family treatment services coordinator and supervised the state substance use prevention and treatment procurements, the recovery support services, and workforce development. Ms. Pressman collaboratively designed and managed several successful pilot projects that were sustained as part of the infrastructure of the Bureau. Ms. Pressman is currently President of the Frankie O’Day Cooperative Corporation and is active in the politics and life of the South End community. In her retirement, Ms. Pressman takes long walks, reads, spends time with family and friends, cares for a dog, and gratefully has time to smell the roses.