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 […]

From symptom relief to subtype identification: exploring patterns of cannabis use in PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use often go hand in hand, with many people using substances like cannabis to manage their symptoms. This concept, known as the self-medication hypothesis, suggests that people might use cannabis differently depending on the nature of their symptoms. Symptoms are classically split into domains – hyperarousal, emotional numbing, re-experiencing, […]

Project Better

The co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and hazardous drinking (HD) can be particularly devastating; though evidence-based treatments exist, many individuals with this co-occurrence drop out from or do not or cannot access specialty care. Text-messaging is a mode of intervention delivery that is low-cost, low-burden, and accessible to most people; development and testing of […]

Raising Washington

A partnership to provide comprehensive perinatal mental health and parenting support for the first 1,000 days The Raising Washington Initiative seeks to develop an evidence-based fully integrated perinatal support program that will offer mental health care, parent training and support services for the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life (conception through child’s 2nd birthday) for every high-risk baby born in Washington. […]

Subtyping the neurobiology of PTSD through novel methods for the alpha- and beta-adrenergic autonomic nervous system components: a pilot study

Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common in veteran and civilian populations. Meanwhile, observationally estimated half of people cared for at UW autonomic nervous system (ANS) disorder clinic have a history of trauma. Increasingly, research explains this observation through an evolving understanding of the complex interplay of peripheral and central catecholamine signaling that appear […]

The ATTEND study for Healthcare Workers and First Responders

Healthcare workers and first responders working during the COVID-19 pandemic have experienced increased exposure to suffering and loss; prolonged work hours; and increased personal risk. Although associated increases in psychiatric symptoms and occupational burnout are well documented, what aspects of the experiences are most strongly associated with negative outcomes over time – and what interventions […]

THRIVE Study

This is a study of an app intended to support recent sexual assault survivors, called THRIVE. In a prior grant, we pilot tested THRIVE and found that it reduced risk for alcohol misuse and posttraumatic stress. In the first year of this grant, we aim to revise the app to increase usability and inclusivity. In […]

Willow Study

The goal of this study is to understand the impact of stigma on mental health and recovery from trauma in different parts of the country.