Nancy G. Calleja
Nancy G. Calleja
Professor of Counseling
Department Chair, Department of Counseling & Addiction Studies; Department of Social Work
Director of Addiction Counseling
Degrees
- Ph.D., Counselor Education and Supervision, Wayne State University
- M.A., Counseling, Wayne State University
- B.A., Psychology & Sociology, Wayne State University
Biography
Nancy G. Calleja is professor and chair of the Department of Counseling and Addiction Studies at the University. Calleja teaches advanced issues in addiction counseling, program development and evaluation, diagnosis and treatment planning, critical issues in counseling, legal issues and consultation. Calleja received her doctorate in Counseling from Wayne State University in 2001 and is a licensed professional counselor (LPC).
Calleja's work has focused on marginalized individuals in the juvenile justice, child welfare and public mental health systems. She has worked as a clinician, clinical supervisor and administrator for more than three decades in the non-profit human services, and continues to do so. Calleja has developed several comprehensive treatment programs for marginalized adults and youth with substance use and serious mental health disorders. She specializes in the clinical treatment of juvenile offenders, including juveniles with sexual behavior problems. Calleja consults nationally with governmental and non-profit organizations on business planning, program development and program evaluation.
Calleja's work has been widely recognized and supported by 19 federal and foundation grants and contracts totalling more than $8 million. Her funded work has centered on clinical practice research, training health providers in addiction and integrated health care, and treatment program development and evaluation. She has more than forty (40) scholarly publications including 30 journal articles.
Information about Calleja's treatment model for juvenile offenders, The Forward-Focused Model: Developmentally-Informed Treatment for Adolescent Offenders and two supplemental texts: the Forward-Focused Model Facilitator's Manual and Youth Workbook is available at www.forwardfocusedmodel.com.
The second edition of Calleja's text, Program Development in the 21st Century, was published in 2024.
Calleja is currently at work on an addiction counseling text with co-author, Elvita Kondili, to be published in 2024.
She is a member of the Michigan Child Welfare Health Advisory Committee, past chair of the Licensure Committee, Michigan Counseling Association, past chair of the Ethics Committee, Michigan Counseling Association and past president of the Michigan Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors. Calleja is a peer reviewer/panelist for the Department of Justice, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. Calleja received the 2019-2020 Faculty Excellence Award, recognized for excellence as a scholar at University of Detroit Mercy. She joined the University in 2002.
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Current Research & Professional Projects
- Non-profit business planning and organizational development
- Trauma-informed environments and trauma-focused clinical interventions for court-involved individuals
- Treating individuals with complex needs
- Substance addiction assessment and treatment
- Addiction education and training for primary health and behavioral health professionals
- Organizational restructuring
- Development, implementation and long-term outcomes evaluation of a targeted reentry program for juvenile offenders
- Disproportionate psychotropic medication prescriptions among court-involved adolescents
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Social justice and ethical issues related to system-involved youth and families
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Long-term life outcomes of court-involved adolescents
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Externally-Funded Research (last 5 years):
Calleja, N. G. (2023 - 2025). Principal Investigator/Project Director. Counseling Underserved Populations of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults with Critical Care Issues (The CUSP CAY Project). $862,000.00. Health Resources and Services Administration.
Calleja, N. G. (2022 - 2023). Principal Investigator/Project Director. Addressing the Complex Needs of Vulnerable Adults through the Delivery of Evidence-Based Treatment and Integrated Health Screening and Care Coordination. $200,000 Ethel and James Flinn Foundation.
Calleja, N. G. (2020). Principal Investigator/Project Director. Practice Education: Specialized Addiction Training for Primary Health Professionals. $200,000. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Calleja, N. G. (2019). Principal Investigator. Addressing the Needs of Child Welfare's Most Vulnerable Population: Trauma Treatment for Adolescent Females in Shelter Care. $132,000. Ethel and James Flinn Foundation.
Calleja, N. G. (2017-2021). Principal Investigator/Project Director. Counseling Underserved Populations: The CUSP Project. Health Resources and Services Administration. $931,358.
Groh, C. J. and Calleja, N. G. (2018-2021). Co-Principal Investigator (PI Groh). Expanding integrated healthcare in a nurse-run public health clinic. Health Resources and Services Administration. $990,000.
Calleja, N. G. (2018-2019). Principal Investigator. Healing Trauma among Court-Involved Adolescents.Ethel and James Flinn Foundation. $116,000.
Calleja, N. G. (2015-18). Principal Investigator and Project Director. Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for Individuals with Substance Abuse Disorders. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). $780,000.
Calleja, N. G. (2014-17). Project Director. Expanding the Professional Counseling Workforce to Treat Adolescents and Young Adults with Complex Needs. Health Resources and Services Administration. $703,000.
Calleja, N. G. (2014-16). Evaluator. Implementing Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Treatment with Court-Involved Youth. The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation. $190,000.
Fisher, J. & Calley, N. G. (2011-2017). Research Director/Evaluator. 2nd Chance Juvenile Offender Re-Entry Program. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. $1,500,000.
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Recent Publications (last 5 years):
Books:
Calleja, N. G. & Kondili, E. (2025). Introduction to Addiction Counseling. Solana Beach, CA: Cognella Press.
Calleja, N. G. (2024). Program Development in the 21st Century (2nd edition). Solana Beach, CA: Cognella Press.
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
Calleja, N. G. & Kondili, E. (2024). Interprofessional substance use education for primary health professional: An exploratory study of knowledge-related differences. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2024.2315982.
Calleja, N. G. (2022). Developmentally-informed treatment for adolescent sex offenders: An effectiveness evaluation of the Forward-Focused Model. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation. DOI: 10.1080/10509674.2021.2018379
Calleja, N. G. (2020). Assessing and treating trauma in detained adolescents: A pre-post within subjects evaluation. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(2). Doi:.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01564-9
Calleja, N. G. (2019). An investigation into the impact of functional impairment and risk level on adolescent recidivism. Journal of Applied Juvenile Justice Services. http://npjs.org/jajjs/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/An-Investigation-of-the-Impact-of-Functional-Impairment.pdf
Calleja, N. G., Rodems, E., Groh, C. J., Baiardi, J. M., Loewen, J., & Kaiser, R. J. (2019). Differences in substance use-related attitudes and beliefs across behavioral and primary health trainees, gender, race, and ethnicity: A screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) training investigation. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. doi: 10.1080/07347324.2019.1604107
Calleja, N. G. (2019). Translating research into practice: Designing effective reentry strategies for adolescent offenders. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 44, 18-23.
Calleja, N. G. & Dadah, A. M. (2018). Addressing faulty prescribing practices of psychotropic medication among court-involved children and adolescents. The Family Journal, 1-8. Doi: 10.177/1066480717752899Sex.
Tellier, S. & Calleja, N. G. (2017). Renegotiating sexual identity after disability. AdultSpan, 16(1), 47-59. Doi: 10.1002/adsp. 12033.
Calleja, N. G., Dadah, A. M., Fisher, J., & Fernandez, M. (2016). Reducing juvenile recidivism through specialized reentry services. Journal of Juvenile Justice, 1-12.
Calleja, N. G. (2016). Deconstructing a puzzling relationship: Sex offender legislation and the crimes that inspired it and sustained moral panic. Justice Policy Journal, 13(1), 1-17.