Lauren is a Senior Training and Technical Assistance Associate at EDC, with extensive knowledge of mental health promotion, behavioral health, school-based initiatives, substance misuse prevention, youth violence prevention, cultural responsiveness, and mentoring.  Drawing on her health communications and capacity-building expertise, she helps community organizations and school districts bridge research and practice, implement and sustain evidence-based programs, strengthen cross-sector collaboration, and use data-driven planning to achieve systems change. Her integrated approach to advancing substance misuse prevention and social emotional learning (SEL) emphasizes interconnected risk and protective factors and fosters collaboration at the community level. Lauren has worked as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking immigrants and a school counselor for high-risk Latino youth. She holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College, an M.A. in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University, and a Certificate in Medical and Legal Interpretation from Bentley College.