Mental and Behavioral Health Services and Implementation
For decades, the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences has conducted groundbreaking epidemiologic studies that accelerate the delivery of evidence-based interventions and innovative programs that improve mental health and reduce substance misuse and addiction.
Our epidemiologic studies identify risk and protective factors needed to address the unique mental health and substance use needs of patients and community populations. Our services research translates evidence-based interventions into practice by improving access, affordability, organization and financing. The department’s implementation research investigates system-level strategies to deliver evidence-based interventions through a variety of service systems: healthcare, public schools, other governmental institutions and community organizations.
For the past 40 years, the Health Disparities and Public Policy Program, co-led by Karen Abram, PhD, has conducted comprehensive studies investigating the interface between the mental health and criminal justice systems, and associated health disparities. The program includes project staff from a wide variety of disciplines, doctoral students from the Clinical Psychology program in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and post-doctoral fellows. The program is currently conducting the Northwestern Juvenile Project, the first large scale, longitudinal study of mental health needs and outcomes of juvenile detainees, and on the Northwestern Juvenile Project: Next Generation study, a longitudinal intergenerational study which aims to identify what predicts positive outcomes in at-risk youth. Results from their research studies have provided the needed empirical data to guide U.S. policy: Findings have been cited in Supreme Court amicus briefs, congressional hearings and surgeon general’s reports.
Contact
710 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 900 Chicago, IL 60611
Sara J. Becker, PhD, is the Inaugural Director of the Center for Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) Science, one of the interdisciplinary centers of Northwestern's Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM). The vision of the Center is to advance equitable access to evidence-based public health and medical interventions by: accelerating the impact of research across the translational continuum; training the next generation of D&I public health researchers and practitioners; and serving as a hub of pragmatic D&I science research at the Feinberg School of Medicine, locally, domestically, and globally.
Current Projects:
Project MIMIC (Maximizing Implementation of Motivational Incentives in Clinics) – With Bryan Garner of Ohio State University, Dr. Becker is co-leading a 5-year R01 evaluating multi-level strategies to implement contingency management, an evidence-based addiction treatment, in 30 opioid treatment programs.
ARCH - With Caroline Kuo of American University and Goodman Sibeko of University of Cape Town, Dr. Becker is co-leading a 5-year P01 project testing a train-the-trainer strategy to cascade Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment targeting risky alcohol use throughout HIV service organizations in South Africa.
Parent SMART – Dr. Becker is leading an R37 (eligible for up to 10 years of funding) testing a technology-assisted intervention for parents of adolescents in residential substance use treatment.
Project MIMIC2 – Dr. Becker is leading a 5-year P50 project component that represents a follow-up to Project MIMIC. This iteration uses a stepped wedge trial to test a refined multi-level implementation strategy across 10 opioid treatment programs.
New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center – With Rosemarie Martin of the Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Becker is co-leading a SAMHSA-funded center which annually provides training and technical assistance to over 2,100 front-line addiction treatment providers.
Contact
633 North Saint Clair Street Suite 2000 Chicago, IL 60611
Allison Carroll, PhD, is part of the BRIDGES team and is a collaborator on a number of research studies focused on implementation science, community-engagement, behavioral interventions, chronic disease prevention and management, and health equity. Some projects with which she is involved include:
Richard Epstein, PhD, MPH, is a licensed clinical psychologist and applied pediatric health services investigator. He has expertise using administrative data from health and human services systems such as medical claims and child welfare records to examine issues related to implementation and outcomes of healthcare and other human services. Epstein also has expertise conducting systematic and comparative effectiveness reviews of existing literature on interventions for pediatric populations. Whether analyzing administrative data or reviewing extant literature, the goal of his research is to help identify effective ways to organize, manage and provide high quality care to children and families of children who have experienced adversity, have special healthcare needs or are involved with publicly funded child welfare or mental health services.
Contact
710 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 902 Chicago, IL 60611
The BRIDGES team led by C. Hendricks Brown, PhD, participates in a diverse set of research projects and initiatives, including:
Collaborative Behavioral Health Project (CBHP): This study is a stepped-wedge hybrid type 2 randomized roll-out effectiveness-implementation trial of the Collaborative Care Model in 11 primary care practices affiliated with Northwestern Medicine. Using a sequential mixed methods approach, we will assess key stakeholders' perspectives on barriers and facilitators of implementation and sustainability of CBHP. The speed and quantity of implementation activities completed over a 30-month period for each practice will be assessed. Economic analyses will be conducted to determine the budget impact and cost offset of CBHP in the healthcare system. The CBHP research team consists of both researchers and clinicians. This project is funded by the Woman's Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Ashley Knapp’s research is focused on youth digital mental health broadly, with a particular interest in designing and implementing accessible, community-based digital tools with marginalized youth and those youth most experiencing inequities. In particular, she is passionate about partnering with minoritized groups who have historically been underrepresented and not included in research to co-design digital tools to fit their needs and deploy those tools in public settings that are easily accessed. Dr. Knapp is currently supported by a NIMH-funded K01 award where she is partnering with a public library and their teen patrons to co-create a digital mental health service for anxiety to be implemented into the library’s teen services. She also uses the integration of human-centered design and implementation research methods in her contribution to other projects, to inform the design of technologies and services implemented across a variety of settings (e.g., healthcare; schools; mental health clinics; community organizations). Personally, she’s quite the homebody and nerds out on all things related to cross-stitching, puzzles, tea, and cats (don’t hate, she has a dog she loves too).
Contact
750 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 1000 Chicago, IL 60611
The Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH) Statewide Initiative is supported by Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER II) from the U.S Department of Education. REACH goals are: 1) To prepare educators and schools to support student mental health and resilience via trauma-informed policies and practices; 2) to foster educators’ personal and professional resilience and self-care; and 3) to assist districts in creating school mental health structures and data-riven approaches to addressing trauma and building resilience. CCR is partnering with the American Institutes of Research and Loyola University Chicago to conduct a mixed-methods analysis of the REACH implementation and outcomes.
National Center for Safe Supportive Schools (NCS3) is a SAMHSA-funded center within the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). The mission is to provide states, districts, and schools with the knowledge and tools to implement culturally responsive, trauma-informed policies and practices that promote equity and well-being.
The Stress and Coping Toolkit is a series of brief lessons and activities implemented by 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers to build student coping skills and mental health awareness, promote positive social connections, and enhance resilience in the face of ongoing stress. The toolkit was developed in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, and we are examining feasibility, acceptability, and initial utility.
Strengthening Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups (STRONG). In partnership with Loyola University Chicago and Chicago Public Schools, STRONG uses a group randomized mixed-methods design to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the STRONG school-based intervention (Hoover, 2018) in promoting mental health and resilience among newcomer students.
The Family CARE Parenting Lab led by Heather Risser, PhD, provides families and communities with a variety of resources, training and technical support to promote child, family and community wellness. Their team includes community stakeholders, family advisory members and university staff and students. Their projects are listed below:
Family Navigation The Foster Parent Family Navigation Program aims to build foster parent capacity to 1) recognize their child’s mental health needs, 2) find and enroll the child in evidence-based treatment; 3) manage their child’s mental health treatment and 4) support treatment goals in the home and community.
Parental Emotion Regulation Skills Harnessing e-Learning for Parental Emotion Regulation Skills (HELPERS) aims to build parent capacity to manage stress and negative emotion to improve the effectiveness of their parenting.
Specialized Foster Parent Support There are several related aims to the overarching Foster Parent Support project. First, they asses prospective and current foster parent perspectives to identify opportunities to provide resources to sustain placement for children with high levels of need. Second, they work with foster-parent-serving agencies to provide resources for foster parents.
Community Partner Training and Technical Support They provide training and technical support to 30 community partners across Illinois to support violence prevention and intervention.
Health Equity in Persons with Disabilities They are engaged with several community partners in identifying strengths, needs and resources for Black adults living with disabilities accessing community services.
Contact
710 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 1221 Chicago, IL 60611
Emily Rogalski, PhD, the Ann Adelmann Perkins and John S. Perkins Professor of Alzheimer's Disease Prevention, has a successful history of consistent foundation and NIH funding spanning more than 15 years. Her research uses a multimodal and interdisciplinary approach and primarily focuses on two aging perspectives: primary progressive aphasia (PPA), in which neurodegenerative disease invades the language network, and SuperAging, in which individuals are seemingly resistant to the deleterious changes in memory associated with “normal” cognitive aging.
SuperAging Research Initiative: SuperAgers are 80+ year-olds with episodic memory function that is at least as good as cognitively average individuals in their 50s and 60s. Rogalski operationalized and established the SuperAging phenotype and leads the NIA-funded multisite SuperAging Research Initiative.
PPA Research Program: Rogalski's PPA research spans more than 15 years and has focused on characterizing the clinical and anatomical features of PPA, ascertaining the drivers of disease progression and identifying potential genetic and developmental risk factors. This work has also led to fundamental changes in the understanding of language network organization.
Care, support and non-pharmacologic intervention: Another important goal of Rogalski's research is to optimize access to high-quality non-pharmacological care for individuals with Alzheimer’s and related dementias (ADRD). She has developed educational programs, one of the first support groups for individuals living with PPA and, more recently, the Communication Bridge Intervention, which is designed to maximize communication and quality of life for individuals living with PPA and their carepartners. She currently leads an NIH Phase 2 randomized, clinical trial testing the efficacy of the Communication Bridge Intervention.
Multisite study leadership: Rogalski serves in leadership roles for two NIA-funded P30 awards and is the Neuroimaging Biomarker Core Leader for Northwestern’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) and the Pilot/Exploratory Studies Co-Core Leader for Northwestern’s Pepper Center. She is also a site PI for multi-center NIH initiatives, including the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Study (LEADS).
Contact
300 East Superior Street Tarry 8-735 Chicago, IL 60611
The interdisciplinary group co-led by Linda Teplin, PhD, includes faculty-level research investigators, research assistants, interviewers, statistical programmers, data processors, administrative and support staff, as well as graduate students enrolled in the Clinical Psychology PhD and master’s programs in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Results from their research studies have provided the needed empirical data to guide U.S. policy: Findings have been cited in Supreme Court amicus briefs, congressional hearings and surgeon general’s reports. We are currently conducting two studies: the Northwestern Juvenile Project and the Northwestern Juvenile Project: Next Generation. Begun in 1995, the Northwestern Juvenile Project is the first large-scale longitudinal study of psychiatric disorders, antisocial and criminal behaviors and adult outcomes of juvenile detainees. Next Generation is the first intergenerational study of this special population. The group is investigating the characteristics that promote resilience among the children of the original participants in the Northwestern Juvenile Project. By identifying the strengths of children, their parents, social networks and communities, they will determine what experiences promote mental health, healthy relationships and educational attainment.
Contact
710 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 900 Chicago, IL 60611
