Ellen Harwell is an expert in mental health promotion and suicide prevention. An experienced project manager, she specializes in suicide prevention training, child and adolescent development, adolescent psychopathology, abnormal psychology, and multicultural counseling and consultation.
Harwell advances the goals of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention housed at EDC. She oversees Transforming Health Systems work, with a focus on implementing the Best Practices in Care Transitions for Individuals with Suicide Risk: From Inpatient Care to Outpatient Care.
Before EDC, Harwell wrote and implemented a facility-specific suicide prevention training curriculum for a medium security juvenile facility and worked for multiple Oklahoma child-serving agencies. As the former chair of the Detaining Youth Task Force in Oklahoma, she recommended policy and legislative changes that resulted in two bills being signed into law that changed the way juveniles are detained before adjudication.
Harwell holds a PhD in Human Development and Family Sciences from Oklahoma State University and an MS in Psychological Services and a BS in Psychology from East Central University.