There wasn’t always a masters program for social work at Boise State – until Dave Johnson was asked to create one in 1989. Johnson graduated from Boise State in 1973 with his bachelors in social work, became a full time professor teaching social work courses and moved on to become the chair of the department in 1987. Two years later, he started building the masters program. Unlike other year-long contracts to create a masters program, Johnson only had the three months left of summer to work with. With a lack of faculty on campus during those summer months, Johnson realized that he would have to rely on very little guidance and help from others. However, he was able to get all of the necessary curriculum and details submitted by the fall. The first cohort of students started taking classes in the fall of 1991.
While the transition was tense, Johnson expresses having no regrets and states it was the right thing to be done in terms of getting the program into existence. While leaving Boise State was one of the hardest things for Johnson, he expresses his gratitude for the opportunity to be exposed to complex issues and becoming part of the solution. Creating the social work program was one of his proudest accomplishments and states that he was “happy to build the plane as we were flying it.”
After parting ways with Boise State shortly after, Johnson’s career took him into managed care, program development and evaluation with Vydas Resources Incorporated, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana. In 2002, after Vydas Resources Incorporated was sold, he was hired as the Chief Administrator Officer for the Department of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine clinical services programs. In this role, Johnson implemented one of the first electronic medical record systems for mental health practice. He also led the development of a program that integrated mental health and substance use services in a medical clinic. Johnson moved from Wayne State in 2013 to a position with Amerigroup/Anthem Health to lead a national effort to establish behavioral health homes.
Johnson had planned on retiring. However, in 2017, he met the former governor of Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher. Fletcher proposed the idea of developing a program to expand the capacity and quality of recovery housing programs modeled after the Recovery Kentucky program. This model includes housing that serves as reentry from jail or prison or as a diversion from jail for individuals involved in the criminal justice system and experiencing a substance use disorder. As the CEO for the Fletcher Group, Johnson defined a service model in which Fletcher Group provides training, technical assistance, and conducts research. Additionally, staff serve as community catalysts to facilitate the development of recovery housing in communities. An award from the Health Resources Service Administration established the Fletcher Group as a Rural Center of Excellence on Recovery.
In taking on so many challenges head on and against all odds, Johnson spoke to how confidence plays a role in success, even when it feels foolish, stating “That’s my approach to things, you just gotta take that first step and figure it out.” Aside from confidence, Johnson discussed the importance of standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, giving high praise to Irene Wilcox, the first chair of the social work program who also developed the bachelors program for social work, and to Dan Huff, one of the first faculty members of the program who became his advisor, a colleague, and later his friend.