The Washington State Behavioral Health Student Assistance Program (BH-SAP) is a research-based, statewide model that places trained Student Assistance Professionals (SAPs) in schools to deliver prevention, early intervention, and referral support within Washington’s Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. Through our collaboration with the Assocation for Educational Service Districts, the UW SMART Center’s Training and Technical Assistance Core supports this project through program evaluation efforts including overseeing collection of student, school, and district outcome data, analyzing data, and producing reports to inform continuous improvement.
Practice Type: Rural
Empower Through Health
Empower Through Health (ETH) is a healthcare, research, and education 501c3 organization operating in rural eastern Uganda. ETH runs a health center that provides general medical care for surrounding communities and delivers psychiatric and neurological services across Buyende District (population >400,000). ETH’s research focuses on reducing demand-side barriers to care and partnering with existing community structures to improve mental health outcomes and support recovery after mental health crises. ETH hosts the Global Health Experiential Fellowship (GHEF), a hands-on training program that pairs Ugandan and U.S. trainees on community-engaged research. ETH is also expanding its education mission by launching a primary school to strengthen long-term community wellbeing.
Evaluating the role of virtual whole health in PC-MHI
The COVID-19 pandemic facilitated simultaneous paradigm shifts in healthcare delivery: virtual care (telehealth and videoconferencing) and the need for “Whole Person” healthcare that targets mind, body, and spirit, per recent US Surgeon General1 and National Academy of Medicine2 calls-to-action. The pandemic also highlighted treatment delivery inequities involving rural Veterans. The current proposal will address these trends, assessing virtual VA Whole Health care use in Primary Care-Mental Health Integration (PC-MHI) for rural and non-rural Veterans with chronic pain and co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Behaviors and Executive Skills in T21 (BEST21)
We are conducting a study to understand the role of problem-solving in challenging behaviors for children with Down syndrome so that we can better understand the development of and treat these behaviors. If you agree to participate, this study will involve questionnaires, some of which may be completed at home. You would also attend an in-person visit that involves measuring your child’s naturally-occurring brain activity with EEG as well as cognitive assessments. We would schedule your visit around your schedule to the best of our ability and we can schedule this visit in a location that is convenient for you (UW, home visits, etc.). Participants will receive an $80 gift card to thank them for their time.
Canoe Journey: Land, water, language and culture for youth wellbeing
The Canoe Journey study is an exploratory study aimed at examining the acceptability and fit of motivational interviewing (MI) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) among American Indian and Alaska Native youth and young adult Canoe Journey participants. The team will develop a list of MI and DBT approaches in collaboration with Canoe Journey partners, and exploring the acceptability and fit of the approaches during Canoe Journey events in 2025, along with a list of tribally specific approaches to healing mental health in collaboration with Canoe Journey partners and confirm knowledge of these approaches among participants in 2026. The team will examine the relationship between measures of wellness with knowledge and use of MI, DBT, and tribally specific approaches to healing mental health in 2027, along with the acceptability and fit of a relational mental health intervention among Canoe Journey participants.
GATHER: Growing a Tribal Healing Effort through Research
The GATHER initiative aims to: 1) Coordinate a national research network to support tribally led research on etiology and prevention of overdose, substance use, mental health, and pain management. 2) Provide administrative support and shared resources to facilitate the successful completion of N CREW research projects. 3) Provide an administrative infrastructure, intellectual environment, and access to resources and initial support for investigators. 4) Provide research training and access to subject matter experts for investigators, staff, and students in the areas of cognitive, motivational, and behavior therapies, Indigenous approaches to research and healing, and multimodal holistic approaches to prevention and treatment. 5) Serve as a local, national, and international resource for dissemination of information and training to reduce risk in diverse tribal and urban Indian populations.
Partnering with the Quinault Indian Nation to develop a community-based contingency management intervention
Indigenous knowledge remains strong in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities despite colonization, postcolonial efforts to assimilate and eradicate AI/AN people, present-day inequities and structural racism. Despite strength and resilience, AI/AN populations have high rates of unintentional overdose and death by suicide. There is an urgent need for evidence-based, culturally responsive approaches to increase protective factors against substance use and mental illness in AI/AN communities.
This study is a partnership between University of Washington researchers and the Quinault Indian Nation’s behavioral health providers and community. We will design a culturally adapted community-based contingency management intervention to increase positive reinforcement for adolescents and young adults at risk for substance use and mental illness. This intervention will focus on community identified target behaviors rather than abstinence. By prioritizing the needs of the community we will develop an intervention that is effective, usable and sustainable.
Partnering with community pharmacies to enhance access to long-acting injectable antipsychotics in Washington State
Medication nonadherence is common among patients with serious mental illness, including schizophrenia. The use of long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIAs) for schizophrenia is an evidence-based practice that improves medication adherence, decreases symptomatic recurrence and reduces hospitalizations. However, patients and clinicians often face several challenges in access and coordination resulting in the underutilization of LAIAs in care.
Administering LAIAs at community pharmacies could potentially increase accessibility, reduce barriers for treatment and improve patient outcomes. This project aims to assess the fit or compatibility of LAIA administration in community pharmacies. We will survey community pharmacy staff and behavioral healthcare providers in Washington State to assess the acceptability, appropriateness and feasibility of LAIA administration in community pharmacies. If LAIA administration at community pharmacies is found to be a good fit, the next steps will be to develop strategies to support implementation. A scalable and adoptable model for administering LAIAs at community pharmacies could have substantial impacts on public health through increasing access to treatment and expanding behavioral health services at the community level and in rural areas.
The UW Medical Student Addiction Research (MedStAR) program to address substance use disorders in urban and rural communities in five western states
This project will create a mentored research training program for University of Washington medical students to engage in substance use disorder-focused research and clinical practice during their medical school training.
Evaluating Lifelines4Moms (ELM) Study
Perinatal depression affects 10-15% of pregnant and postpartum individuals, with detrimental impacts on both parent and infant. In response to this, our department developed a perinatal consultation line for providers, PAL for Moms, to increase access to specialty perinatal psychiatric expertise and care. The purpose of the Evaluating Lifeline4Moms (ELM) is to assess comparative effectiveness of PAL for Moms and other perinatal psychiatry access and referral programs in addressing maternal depression.
As a community-engaged research endeavor, ELM has convened patient advocates, policy experts, and perinatal clinicians, who oversee the study as partners and advisors. Over a period of three years, the research team will characterize the components, implementation timelines, and state policy contexts of access and referral programs; evaluate the reach and implementation of these programs; and examine the comparative effects on access to and quality of mental health treatment among Medicaid-insured perinatal individuals.
