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Research and Training Center to Reach 25-Year Mark

FSU student Javier Rosado joins RTC Advisory Board

 

An award of 4.125 million dollars to USF’s Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health will support continued research on service systems for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families.

The five-year award is funded jointly by the US Department of Education’s
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), and
the National Institute of Health’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services.

NIDRR Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTC) are centers of excellence that provide long-term coordinated approaches to research and training in priority areas. Operated in collaboration with institutions of higher education, they serve as national and regional resources for individuals with disabilities, their family members and advocates, as well as for providers, and each have a major program of research in a particular area.

USF’s Center was originally established in 1984. “Centers are intended to be more than a collection of individual projects,” said Robert Friedman, PhD, founding director of the USF Center. “They represent an opportunity to bring together a critical group of talented individuals from diverse backgrounds to work on an integrated set of research, training, and dissemination activities.” Drs. Albert Duchnowski and Krista Kutash serve as deputy directors for the Center.

In the next fve years, the Center at USF will provide a leading role in supporting the recommendations of the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which has recently called for a transformation in the nation’s mental health services system for children and adolescents. Despite advances in past decades, care for children and adolescents with behavioral, psychological and emotional problems remains fragmented and hard for families to access.

“ The number of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances, and the degree to which their lives and the lives of their families are affected by their disturbances is enormous,” said Friedman. “There is a strong need for effective systems as one important part of achieving the transformation called for by the President’s New Freedom Commission. I am confident that our activities will bring about positive change in practice and policy.”

The Center, housed at the Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) of USF’s Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, is staffed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers, family members, and individuals with experience as policy makers.

During this grant cycle, six interrelated studies will be conducted. The first two studies will take a comprehensive look at how communities are implementing factors theorized by the Center to contribute to effective systems of care. These fndings will contribute to the Center’s research agenda as a whole, and guide studies on school-based mental health systems, access to services for culturally diverse populations, financing strategies, and the role of family organizations in systems development. Additional information on the Center can be obtained from their website at http://rtckids.fmhi.usf.edu.

Center Adds Strong Youth Voice to Board of Advisors

For this grant cycle, five young adults have accepted positions on the Center’s National Advisory board, where they will add to the counsel of a diverse group of individuals including family members, researchers, policy makers, advocates, administrators, and practitioners.

At the recommendation of RTC staff, the youth were chosen based on their experiences and ability to help create a vision for improved services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances. Three of the young adults have had personal experiences in the mental health system, while two others are preparing for, or have already begun careers in the field.

“ They are a special part of the future in our field,” said Robert Friedman, director of the Center. “We look forward to the perspectives these young adults will offer at our annual meeting in Tampa, as well as their correspondence with the Center throughout the year offering advice on specific issues related to the Center’s research.”

 

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