Making an Impact on State Policy as a Student
Sadie Lloyd is moving back to Maine to attend the Muskie School because she wants to have immediate impact on state policy. As a research assistant at the School's Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy, Sadie will start working on a brain injury study for Maine's Department on Health and Human Services even before she attends her first class.
This August, Sadie will begin working with policy analyst Eileen Griffin to identify strategies for helping people with brain injury who end up in the criminal justice system. Studies estimate somewhere between 25 to 87 percent of the prison and jail population have a brain injury.
Sadie will interview people with brain injury, practitioners in the criminal justice system, and social service providers, to develop a deeper understanding of how and why a person with a brain injury might run into trouble. The hope is that Sadie's research will lead to better strategies for helping people with brain injury before they end up in prison. Results of the study are expected in the spring of 2011.
"I considered other graduate schools outside Maine, but when I learned about this research opportunity, that sealed the deal for me," said Sadie. "The most important thing is for me to get involved as soon as possible."
Most recently, Sadie worked as an events manager for the National Brain Tumor Society in Boston. She is now working on a book about youth migration in Maine. "I know a lot of people who want to return to Maine. I think there's a real opportunity now with more attention being paid to the benefits to sustainable living to lure these people back. I hope to have an impact on that."