NNews-Sep-2026

September 2026 23 S ince the Information Technology Project (IT Project), originally called the Management Information Systems Project, was created as a joint partnership between NJAMHAA and the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services in 1984, it has expanded in its services and expertise as IT has evolved not only in hardware and software, but also has spawned technological breakthroughs, most notably artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. Art Powis, Technical Support Specialist 1, summed it up in his response to a question about the most common challenges members face and recommendations for avoiding or mitigating those issues. “When I started more than 20 years ago, I would have answered this by talking about purchasing servers and workstations and the costs involved with that; 15 years ago, I would have talked about firewalls and web filtering to protect computer systems; and ten years ago, I would have talked about the rise of malware and data thieves encrypting data, and how good backups can mitigate that,” he said. Though all of these issues are still concerns now, Powis’ response to the question for today is “protection of data in the cloud and training users about how to spot when they have been hacked or when they are being targeted by an attacker, which is amajor challenge.” Through all these changes, NJAMHAA has been fortunate to have Powis and Ron Gordon, IT Project Director, as consistent teammembers. In fact, Gordon had NJAMHAA as a client at a computer company in the early 1980s and joined the association when the IT Project was established. Though Steve Hirsch, LSW, MSW, MBA, Vice President of IT, Human Resources and Administrative Services, joined the associationmuchmore recently—in 2024—his connectionwith the state’s behavioral healthcare systemspans multiple decades, and he brings both IT and clinical expertise to his role. He was a behavioral health clinician, beginning in the late 1980s, and in themid-1990s, he entered the IT field, doingweb NJAMHAA’s IT Project Offers Expertise to Enhance Services with AI and Strengthen Cybersecurity development and network operations for FoxNews Sports for five years. Then, he returned to behavioral health care at MonmouthMedical Center and Trenton Psychiatric Hospital. “It sounds likemy behavioral health and IT careers were so different, but the clinical and technology aspects really work together,” Hirsch said. “I was always trying to figure out how to better the tech end of things at the hospitals—for example, by computerizing documents. So, when the Affordable Care Act and electronic health records (EHR) came around, I was alreadymoving in that direction.” “We’re always striving to increase services and value for our members. This includes promoting use of AI and getting people tomove to the cloud,” Hirsch said. “By providing hands-on support at member agencies, sending out information and hosting the IT Conference each year, we’ve been focusingmore on the security threats and how to protect agencies,” Gordon added. continued on page 24