Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health

MISSION & VALUES

The Center is dedicated to promoting the well-being and full community participation of children, youth, and families who are affected by mental health difficulties.

We pursue our mission through collaborative research, technical assistance, and knowledge-sharing partnerships with family members, youth, service providers, policy makers, and other concerned persons and organizations.

Our research is designed to promote the transformation of mental health care by increasing knowledge of supports, services, and policies that:

Build on family strengths,
Are community based, family driven, and youth guided,
Promote cultural competence, and
Are based on evidence of effectiveness.

RESEARCH

The Center produces a variety of publications, training materials, and other products that are designed to be relevant and accessible to diverse audiences. These products are related to current projects and ongoing research themes including:

• Effective wraparound teamwork and the organizational and system attributes that support effectiveness,
• Roles and supports for family members and youth in evaluation and policy making,
• Culturally competent policies and practices, and
• Strategies for effective family support.

CURRENT PROJECTS

Voices of Youth and Families: Community Integration of Transition-Age Youth is a qualitative study designed to gain understanding of community integration from the perspectives of youth and young adults aged 17-24 and family members.

Transition to Independence: Outcomes of School-Based Support for Youth with Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, is evaluating a pilot school-based program that assists participants age 18-21 with mental health and developmental disabilities to successfully transition to employment and appropriate levels of independent living and use of adult social services. To achieve this goal, the project model combines mental health support with employment readiness and life skills training.

Achieve My Plan focuses on youth and family member participation in collaborative planning for individualized services and supports. The project will 1) develop instruments to assess youth empowerment and youth participation in planning, and 2) develop and evaluate an intervention to increase the participation of youth and family members in the planning process.

Work-Life Integration investigates human resource practices that improve the family-friendliness of organizations for employees that have children with emotional or behavioral disorders. The project will also develop and test training and informational materials that describe employment-based supports that allow these employees to participate more fully in work, family, and community life.

Transforming Transitions to Kindergarten promotes the successful integration of children with challenging behaviors in community preschools and public schools. The project will develop, implement, and evaluate organization-wide training and family-driven intervention teams to enhance mental health and transition supports for children and families.

Practice-Based Evidence: Building Effectiveness from the Ground Up is conducting a case study in partnership with a Native American youth organization and the National Indian Child Welfare Association. The project addresses the need to conduct effectiveness studies of practices that are believed to be helpful, but for which little formal evidence exists.

The Underrepresented Researchers Mentoring Program training project encourages undergraduate and graduate students from under-represented groups to consider research careers through guided research experience and research training.

Resilience and Recovery in Children's Mental Health examines the degree to which resilience and recovery frameworks fit with system of care principles, and extracts implications for practice, system development, and evaluation in children's mental health. The project team has gathered information and responses from family members, youth, service providers, program administrators, researchers, and policy makers.

DISSEMINATION

The Research and Training Center serves as a national resource for the improvement of mental health care for children, youth, and families. Major efforts in dissemination and training include:

• A national conference, Building on Family Strengths: Research and Services in Support of Children and Their Families, highlighting current research and innovative programs in children's mental health, positive youth development, child welfare, and allied fields;
• Our Center website, www.rtc.pdx.edu, providing electronic information about child and family mental health services, supports, and policy issues;
• A biannual journal, Focal Point: Research, Policy, and Practice in Children's Mental Health;
• Publications discussing research and its implications for support strategies, service delivery, professional development, and policy making;
• Presentations and technical assistance relating to the Center's research themes;
• Data Trends: Building a Learning Community for Evidence-based Practice, a project for producing and disseminating briefs and reports summarizing recent literature or presenting new developments in family support and children's mental health; and
• A monthly email newsletter, rtcUpdates, highlighting new developments and electronic resources.

For publication information, or to subscribe to Focal Point or rtcUpdates, e-mail: rtcpubs@pdx.edu

The Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, is funded by:

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education, and The Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Regional Research Institute for Human Services
Portland State University
P.O. Box 751
Portland, OR 97207-0751
phone: 503.725.4040
fax: 503.725.4180
internet: www.rtc.pdx.edu
publications email: rtcpubs@pdx.edu

Barbara J. Friesen, Ph.D., Director
Janet S. Walker, Ph.D., Director of Research & Dissemination
Donna Fleming, Center Coordinator