Robin Dea, MD
“Dr. Dea is unafraid to make changes that question the norm.”
Dr. Robin Dea’s assignment was clear – design and implement a mental health and chemical dependency system for a group model program that will lead the nation. She did it.
In the early 1990s, Dr. Dea launched an intensive effort to redesign Northern California’s mental health and chemical dependency system. She created what is now regarded as the gold standard for population-based mental health programs.
Her system redesign resulted in a dramatic increase in the range and quality of services.
She implemented an on-call system that allows patients in the emergency room who need psychiatric services to receive them quickly. She created subregional chemical dependency recovery programs. She helped develop intensive outpatient programs to provide people with care and services formerly available only during hospitalization.
Dr. Dea is a skilled and generous psychiatrist with executive ability. She is visionary, creative, willing to tackle any task, and relentless in her determination to make things better.