AI is rapidly changing how people find mental health support—from commercial tools like ChatGPT and Claude offering counseling-like conversations, to AI-enabled apps that screen for depression and anxiety. When these tools fail, the consequences can be severe: AI may miss warning signs of crisis, give harmful advice, or mishandle sensitive data, often with little recourse […]
An Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) is a civil legal tool that permits courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals at elevated risk of harming themselves or others. Lethal means restriction has been found to be a useful mechanism to reduce firearm injury and death. In Washington, the judge hearing the ERPO petition makes findings […]
This VA-funded Career Development Award seeks to improve recognition of alcohol use disorder (AUD) in VA primary care through implementation of standardized symptom assessment. We will collect perspectives on acceptability and implementation determinants from patients and clinicians, apply user-centered design to develop a VA- and veteran-centered assessment process, and develop and pilot an implementation intervention. […]
The Brief Intervention for School Clinicians (BRISC) has been the subject of two research studies funded by the Institute for Education Sciences (IES). In the most recent study, 48 high schools in three states (WA, MD, MN) were recruited and assigned to BRISC (n=23) or school-based services as usual (SAU; n=25). Clinicians working in schools […]
A partnership to support perinatal health, family well-being, and early childhood development during the first 1,000 days (conception through a child’s 2nd birthday). The Raising Washington Initiative seeks to develop an evidence-based, fully integrated perinatal support program that promotes the health and well-being of families during the first 1,000 days. The program will provide coordinated […]
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 […]
Older adults are less likely to receive the recommended standard of care for preventative services, chronic diseases and geriatric concerns such as complex care navigation. Late-life depression is a common chronic disease, and older adults face multiple barriers obtaining depression care from healthcare settings, especially if things like fragility, social needs, and transportation limit access […]
Over 65% of people who are incarcerated have a substance use disorder (SUD). Many jails and prisons provide substance use treatment, including behavioral and pharmacotherapy, and SUD identification is the first step. Prisons and jails are a distinct setting for SUD assessment, and tools used for SUD screening in community settings may not perform the […]
We will analyze people’s stories about psychiatric hospitalization, interview people with experiences surrounding psychiatric hospitalization, and co-design with them to identify alternative approaches that would help people care for themselves as they transition out of the hospital. We will build upon our prior work on understanding patients’ challenges and co-designing new systems that help patients […]
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 […]
