Boston College Professor Wins $6 Million Grant
Erika Sabbath will use the National Institutes of Health funding to study staff turnover in Massachusetts addiction treatment centers.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Substance Abuse
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Boston College School of Social Work professor Erika Sabbath received a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in August 2026. She plans to research ways to improve employee retention in the residential addiction treatment workforce.
Why it matters
Turnover among residential addiction treatment staff reaches as high as 55 percent, which the research team describes as harmful to both workers and clients. The project aims to build a framework that supports many workers at once rather than relying on individual fixes such as mindfulness.
Turnover among residential addiction treatment staff in Massachusetts reaches up to 55 percent, according to the project's background. The $6 million NIH grant will fund research, but no outcome measures or results have been reported yet.
The players
Erika Sabbath
Erika Sabbath is a professor in the Boston College School of Social Work who leads the Re-SHAPE project and studies workforce issues in addiction treatment.
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health is the primary U.S. federal agency funding biomedical and public health research, including this $6 million grant.
The details
The Re-SHAPE program, short for Residential Staff Health and Advancement Program for Excellence in Care, will work with staff at Massachusetts residential addiction treatment centers to study their challenges and improve overall employee experience. Lauren Sabbath-Clayton, an addiction treatment provider and clinical director at a Massachusetts recovery center, is advising the project.
Timeline
August 2026: Sabbath received the $6 million NIH grant.
Health Landscape
The project extends federal NIH funding for addiction research beyond patient outcomes to the frontline treatment workforce. It reflects growing attention to staffing shortages across residential behavioral health programs in Massachusetts.
Turnover among addiction treatment staff can affect the continuity of care patients receive during residential stays. The research aims to produce workplace supports that may help keep experienced workers in place.
The takeaway
Staff stability matters for treatment quality, and this project seeks structural solutions that support whole teams rather than relying only on individual coping strategies. Readers following addiction care in Massachusetts can watch for findings on whether these workforce changes reduce turnover.
Further reading
Explore more on Substance Abuse coverage across Massachusetts.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Heights.
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