Dr. Tara Schuster

In this role, she supervises local education staff, coordinates community outreach efforts and implements high-quality educational opportunities for students, professionals, and parents. It is a role she enjoys for its creativity and diversity, enabling her and her team to provide the best possible prevention education and intervention programming to schools and youth-serving organizations throughout their region.

Tara joined Caron in 2010 as a student assistance specialist. Her role expanded and evolved into her current position, which she took on in 2020. During her time with Caron’s Education Alliance, she has grown her staff's capabilities, enabling them to work with over 25,000 participants annually.

Prior to coming to Caron, she was a special education teacher for middle and elementary school students in Atlanta.

Tara has a Doctorate of Human Services with an emphasis in leadership and organizational management, a Master of Rehabilitation Counseling, and certificates of graduate studies in drug and addiction studies and psychiatric rehabilitation from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. She also has a Master of Public Health from Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville.

Representing Caron’s work, philosophy, values, and goals is something I love doing. Caron understands how important it is to educate young people, their parents, and educators about the effects of substance use and addiction. That’s why we start with prevention with the Student Assistance Program.”