"I was eager to join Inspire because I could see the enormous potential reachout.com holds for young people in the United States. What impressed me most about Inspire is the youth-driven, positive, strength-based approach that undergirds all that Inspire does and how reachout.com is built on a solid evidence base." Susan Keys, Executive Director, Inspire USA
Susan Keys, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Over the course of her career, Susan Keys has led, developed, monitored and evaluated school-based mental health and youth violence prevention programs and policies in collaboration with national centers, federal and state agencies, local school systems, and advocacy and consumer groups.
Most recently, Dr. Keys served as Chief of the Prevention Initiatives and Priority Programs Development Branch of the Center for Mental Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) - a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There she oversaw SAMHSA's youth violence prevention and suicide prevention initiatives, including the Safe Schools/Healthy Students and the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention grant programs. Dr. Keys also provided leadership for Project Launch, an interagency national initiative focused on young child wellness.
Before joining SAMHSA in 2004, Dr. Keys was an Associate Professor and former Chair of the Counseling and Human Services Department at Johns Hopkins University, and also held a joint appointment in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also served as the Associate Director of Education for the John Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence.
