This NIMH-funded Developing Center for Innovation in Services and Intervention Researchbridges the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and NYSPI/Columbia University in three academic Divisions:
Mental Health Services and Policy Research, with chief Susan Essock, PhD;
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, with Bradley Peterson, MD; and
Biostatistics and Data Coordination, with Naihua Duan, PhD.
The Center’s overarching goals are to:
advance knowledge about effective implementation and dissemination strategies to increase the adoption of evidence-based clinical services for children and families in outpatient clinics and schools;
provide guidance to other States on implementation of evidence-based practices; and
promote a participatory research agenda that reflects the partnership of treatment developers, families and family advocates, clinicians, supervisors, clinic directors, and OMH policy-makers, including the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners.
Specific studies are examining a set of organizational contextual strategies to improve implementation efficiency and effectiveness, to enhance engagement and activation of clinicians and families, and to refine measurement tools for assessing multi-level change. Locating this Center directly within the OMH addresses the widely-recognized gap between research and practice and provides a forum for accelerating the integration of research-based approaches directly into the public mental health system.
