The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) has hired longtime clinical social worker Darcy Abbott as its first Disaster Recovery Mental Health Coordinator. In her new role, Abbott will  focus on helping communities obtain critical mental health services following a disaster. After her on-boarding at FDEM, she will be deployed to the Panhandle to assist with coordinating mental health services for those impacted by Hurricane Michael.

Abbott has nearly 30 years of experience in social work and is a Florida licensed clinical social worker. She has served as an administrator for the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration’s Bureau of Medicaid Quality, a bureau chief for the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and has worked in the Florida Department of Children and Families’ Office of Family Safety. She earned her bachelor of science degree in social work from Rochester Institute of Technology and her master's degree in social work from Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania.