Melvin Swain, LMSW, CASAC-MA

Melvin Swain serves as Director of Outreach House I in Ridgewood, Queens where he manages staff, programming, and compliance, and oversees daily operations for the 30-bed drug and alcohol treatment program for adolescents.

Mr. Swain has over 20 years of experience in the substance abuse treatment and prevention field, working with diverse chemically dependent populations, including high risk adolescents and adults with co-occurring mental health diagnoses. He joined Outreach in 2007 as a substance abuse counselor at Outreach House II.  He later moved into the positions of orientation counselor and then Assistant House Manager at this location.  Subsequently, he made a lateral move and became the Assistant House Manager of Outreach House I, in the Ridgewood section of Queens, having served as a manager in both facilities.   Melvin Swain advanced to the position of Assistant Director/Clinical Coordinator at Outreach House I and in July 2018, was named Program Director.

Certified as a Licensed Master Social Worker and Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor, Mr. Swain received the 2018 Susan Schreiber Grassroots Award from the Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers of New York State.  While at Outreach, he maintains connection with his alma mater, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where, as an Adjunct Professor in the Psychology Department, he lectures on aspects of alcoholism and substance use disorder diagnosis, techniques of substance abuse counseling and understanding addiction research, and on advanced topics in chemical dependency. Additionally, he has been instrumental in taking on a variety of student interns working towards their CASAC credential and ultimately hiring many of them into key positions within the agency.

Melvin Swain received his Master of Social Work from the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services, his Bachelor of Arts in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, his Associate Degree in Chemical Dependency Counseling from Suffolk County Community College. He is also SIFI-certified as a field instructor to supervise social work interns.

“Outreach is special because we devote extraordinary time training our staff on how to best serve adolescents and adults diagnosed with not only a substance use disorder, but other mental health diagnoses as well – a complete behavioral health approach.”