Rebecca Roth has more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit, state and federal government sectors in West Virginia, during which time she has focused on strengthening collaborations, leveraging resources, writing, and facilitation. Prior to joining the West Virginia Bureau for Behavioral Health leadership team, her career included serving as a member of former U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller’s senior management team, fundraising for the WVU Health Sciences Center, and managing a small nonprofit serving individuals with disabilities.
Rebecca has led efforts for successful grants from foundations and state funders as well as federal funders such as SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), and, outside of health care, NEA (National Endowment for the Arts). She is also currently trained as a peer grant reviewer for SAMHSA.
Starting in 2011, Rebecca’s facilitation and writing began to focus more on behavioral health policy, such as work on behalf of the then-Governor’s Regional Task Forces and Advisory Council on Substance Abuse (now the Governor’s Council on Substance Use Disorder), and the West Virginia Behavioral Health Planning Council. She also served as a volunteer grant reviewer for the WV Bureau for Behavioral Health in 2014 before joining the BBH staff in 2016.
For the past 4 years at BBH, Rebecca has focused on planning, engaging, and troubleshooting with DHHR colleagues and federal, national, state, and community stakeholders and organizations to continuously improve the quality of behavioral health for West Virginians at a systems level.
She currently serves on the:
- Treatment, Recovery, and Research Subcommittee of the Governor’s Council on Substance Use Disorder;
- the ASTHO OMNI Learning Community WV State Team (Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Opioid Use Disorder, Maternal Outcome, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Initiative (OMNI));
- the STLR (Statewide Therapist Loan Repayment) Team;
- the Outreach and Education Workgroup for DHHR; and
- the SAMHSA Region III MAT Expansion state team.
Rebecca wrote DHHR’s white paper on Medication Assisted Treatment, and in 2019 presented to the National Governors Association (NGA) about telehealth as a behavioral health workforce strategy.
Rebecca holds a B.A. in Political Science from Swarthmore College, and both an M.A. in Philanthropic Studies and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Indiana University. The daughter of two English teachers who instilled in her a deep respect for the written word and lifelong learning, Rebecca also holds an MFA in Writing from WV Wesleyan College.
Born in Beckley, WV, Rebecca makes her home in Charleston with her husband and two lively children ages 8 and 6.