CoLab reimagines how evidence can be integrated with community expertise to advance behavioral health policy.

We are housed under the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

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What We Do

To support our collaborative social innovation framework, the UW CoLab provides development and implementation support for behavioral health programs and systems, evidence translation and synthesis services, and evidence-based policy and programmatic decision support. We work with a variety of community stakeholders, including policymakers, community-based organizations and coalitions, government agencies and administrators, service providers, and healthcare payers.
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Our Partners & Funders

We partner with a wide variety of collaborators and funders to support CoLab and its individual projects. CoLab project collaborators include philanthropy, policymakers, community-based organizations and coalitions, government agencies and administrators, service providers, and healthcare payers. Our funding partners include national and local foundations as well as federal, state, and county level funding mechanisms.

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Our Approach

Codesign

A participatory approach

Codesign combines research synthesis with the industry or community expertise of actors in a particular policy or practice market. It takes a partnership approach, wherein end users are actively involved in the design process to help ensure that the outcome meets their needs and expectations. This approach supports the development and implementation of behavioral health programs and systems.

Evidence Translation & Synthesis

Specific policy & systems questions

CoLab provides evidence translation and synthesis services to a variety of community and organizational stakeholders. These services range in scope and depth depending on each project’s needs.

Evidence-Based Decision-Making Support

programmatic and Systems level decision support

CoLab researchers use industry expertise, evidence synthesis, and project-specific data analysis to support collaborators in programmatic and systems level decision-making.

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Featured Projects

Youth Wellness Zones (ywz)

Youth Wellness Zones are hyperlocal initiatives that thoughtfully involve youth in civic planning at a local/community level to impact their wellbeing. CoLab is currently supporting a learning collaborative among four Washington state zones to better understand their unique benefits. Check out the most recent report CoLab has released!

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Culturally Affirming & Responsive Mental Health (CARE)

CARE for Kids & Families is a statewide initiative to promote culturally responsive behavioral healthcare while centering youth, caregivers, and community members with lived experience/expertise in the behavioral health system.

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