Carol Furlong retired from Elliot Hospital as a SUD Consultant in December 2023. She has worked in the Mental Health and Substance Use environment for over 40 years. She began her career as a substance use counselor working for the Department of the Army in Germany and continued her Behavioral Health career upon her return to New England. She has developed and managed programs and provided direct care in all levels of care – inpatient, ED, PHP, IOP and outpatient services and created the first SUD Department at Elliot Hospital. Carol strongly believes in integrated care – creating the first integrated BH/Primary care Clinic in Milford, NH in the mid-nineties and a fully integrated Healthcare for the Homeless Clinic that provided MH/SUD and dental services to lower income and homeless individuals. She also initiated a Mobile Healthcare van. Carol strongly promotes addressing all areas that impact in an individual’s recovery – housing, benefits, employment, family etc. As a result, she created four Transitional Living Residences for homeless veterans that eliminated veteran homelessness in 2000-2005. She implemented employment and benefits programs in the medical and housing services that she created/directed and initiated the state’s Facilitating Organization grant which was instrumental in creating Recovery Support organizations.

Carol received her Master’s Degree in Counseling and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California and her MBA in Healthcare Administration from Rivier College. She was an adjunct professor at Rivier College for 15 years and at Springfield College for 4 years. Upon her initial return from Germany, she was asked to return to speak on Codependence and strongly advocated for family components of ongoing treatment. She continues to provide presentations on a number of topics.