The Suicide Care Research Center (SCRC) is an NIMH-funded interdisciplinary center working to improve the design and delivery of suicide care for adolescents and young adults ages 13-30 in outpatient medical settings. Led by Kate Comtois, PhD, MPH, SCRC studies use two primary approaches to maximize the utility of research – human-centered design, specifically Discover-Design-Build-Test, and optimization, specifically using the multiphase optimization strategy.
 
The Connections study is one of SCRC’s exploratory studies. It is looking to develop a brief treatment approach in integrated care programs to help adolescent and young adult patients resolve and recover from suicidality. The first phases of this study are happening in some integrated behavioral health (IBH) clinics at UW as well as others around WA state. The goals are to understand best ways to treat suicidality and help patients recover, co-design treatment and recovery services appropriate for IBH settings, and eventually pilot the model and compare it to usual care.
 
SCRC’s signature project, the Swift Outpatient Alternatives for Rapid Stabilization (SOARS) study, is based at Seattle Children’s Hospital and aims to improve outpatient management of youth suicide risk by examining four intervention components to build an optimized intervention package that is responsive to the needs of, and coordinated with, providers in primary care settings. This new approach to youth suicidal crisis has served more than 200 youth and families since 2019.
 
To learn more about SCRC and other research projects, visit their webpage or reach out to uwscrc@uw.edu.