Ms. Townsend is a nationally recognized expert on consumer focused recovery and on cultural competence. Ms. Townsend has extensive experience as a consultant to state and local government entities, managed care organizations, and consumer and family organizations in the areas of consumer recovery and recovery-oriented services, peer-operated services, consumer outcomes, consumer involvement, and culturally competent systems of care. She is currently involved in a research on Actualization of Best Practice Model System-Wide: Examination of Recovery-Oriented Services and Outcomes. Ms. Townsend has recently contributed issue papers to the President's New Freedom Mental Health Commission on both consumer recovery and cultural competence. She has also prepared and disseminated monographs and training materials on consumer-operated supports and business development, cultural responsiveness and recovery, and the development of person-centered care road maps to bring recovery alive in treatment planning with case managers and therapists.

Prior to joining TAC, Ms. Townsend was the chief of the office of Consumer Services, for the State of Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) for over 15 years. In that role, she was the state's liaison with the statewide consumer and family organizations. She also worked with the culturally diverse communities of Ohio in developing culturally diverse programs and culturally competent systems of care. She was instrumental in ODMH funding of a Diversity Resource Center, which serves as a statewide clearinghouse for cultural diversity materials, as well as providing resources and training for the Ohio Mental Health System and other state and local entities.