Scalable Mental Health Solutions
For too long, child and family mental health intervention and services innovation have neglected scalability as a design consideration. We work closely with healthcare agencies, community groups, funders, and policymakers to develop scalable approaches to workforce development, leadership support, and payment reform.
Our Work Creating Scalable Mental Health Solutions
LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE for QUALITY
Quality behavioral healthcare for children and adolescents should be available to all who need it; yet this type of care is often elusive. This can be particularly true for children and adolescents experiencing economic and racial marginalization. At CoLab and EBPI, we are working to improve access to quality behavioral health care for all Washingtonian children using a multi-layered strategy focused on supervisors, embedded clinical expertise, and executive-level leadership.
CULTURALLY AFFIRMING & RESPONSIVE MENTAL HEALTH (CARE) FOR KIDS & FAMILIES
With workforce shortages and the impact of COVID-19 on our communities' mental health, the need for expanding access to culturally responsive, child mental and behavioral health services is immense. CARE for Kids & Families is a new project led by a growing coalition of collaborators and facilitated by UW’s CoLab for Community and Behavioral Health Policy that works to address that need while centering community knowledge and lived experience. This initiative has been funded through Washington State legislative proviso. Learn more, here.
BEAHVIORAL HEALTH WORKFORCE COLLABORATIVE
The UW AIMS Center, the Behavioral Health Institute, and the UW CoLab jointly launched the Behavioral Health Workforce Collaborative in 2022. This initiative aims to bring system partners, organizations, and community members together to better support and expand the behavioral health workforce in Washington State. This learning community aims to defragment and bridge current workforce initiatives while fostering spaces for envisioning new ways to address the workforce crisis.
USER DESIGN LAB (FAST)
The CoLab design lab aims to gain feedback from users of a certain program to understand user needs and pain points and provide recommendations for revisions to ensure that the program is culturally and linguistically sensitive, age-appropriate, and engaging. CoLab partnered with the First Approach Skills Training (FAST) program at Seattle Children’s Hospital to conduct user experience research with youth to revise the language, flow, organization, and visuals for the First Approach Skills Training for Anxiety (FAST-A) program.
TELEHEALTH PROVISO
The Washington State Health Care Authority has contracted with the Behavioral Health Institute (BHI) at Harborview Medical Center to engage consumers, UW CoLab/Evidence-Based Practice Institute and other partners to review current and emerging data and research and make recommendations regarding best practices for virtual behavioral health services to youth and young adults from prenatal to age 25. The final product will include a practical guide for telebehavioral health services from prenatal to 25 with examples of practice innovations we collected from providers across Washington State and the county.