Shelly Steiner is a Certified Prevention Specialist with more than 20 years of experience in behavioral health, substance use prevention, community education, and statewide capacity-building. She currently serves as a Prevention Implementation Specialist with the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental & Intellectual Disabilities, where she provides leadership and technical assistance to support evidence-based prevention and overdose prevention initiatives across the Commonwealth. In her role, she applies the Strategic Prevention Framework, interprets data to guide policy and program decisions, and collaborates with coalitions, state agencies, and community partners to advance effective prevention strategies. She also develops and delivers trainings, presentations, and resources that strengthen Kentucky’s prevention infrastructure.

Before joining state government, Shelly spent nearly a decade with Pathways, Inc., where she coordinated the Drug Free Communities Grant and supported youth and community coalition efforts. Her work included implementing evidence-based programming, managing grants and budgets, and representing the agency at regional and national conferences.

In addition to her prevention work, Shelly has held leadership roles in education and athletics. She has served as the National Judging Coordinator for the United States Trampoline and Tumbling Association since 2014, overseeing national judge training, certification, and standards. Her earlier career includes positions as a Spanish teacher, and Community Education Director.

Shelly is highly skilled in implementation science, data analysis, grant writing, community mobilization, and public speaking. She has presented at major national conferences—including CADCA, the Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit, and the National Prevention Network Conference—and has collaborated with national partners such as NIDA and CADCA on the development of prevention training resources.

Her accomplishments include participation in a White House roundtable discussion with the President of the United States through CADCA, serving as a panelist for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and contributing to award-winning coalition efforts. Shelly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education (Spanish) with a minor in Speech and Communications from Morehead State University.