Projects & Research

Topic: Child Mental Health

26th Annual Children’s Mental Health Research and Policy Conference

The 26th Annual Children’s Mental Health Research and Policy Conference seeks to enhance the effectiveness of services and systems for children and youth with mental health challenges and their families. The conference will be held March 3rd – 6th, 2013.

Actualizing Empowerment: Developing a Framework for Partnering with Families in System Level Service Planning and Delivery

The purpose of this study is to gain a greater understanding of the roles of families in service planning and delivery. Th e project also seeks to develop a framework for systems of care attempting to implement family driven care at the system level.

Community Based Care Technical Assistance Project

This project assists the Florida Department of Children and Families and local communities with meeting statutory requirements to privatize foster care and related services, with particular emphasis on start-up and transition activities.

Community Workshop: Youth Suicide Prevention-A Community Approach

This interactive one or two day workshop provides an opportunity for community and school representatives to gain knowledge and skill in planning a community approach to youth suicide prevention. Individuals with accurate information can be better prepared to identify youth at risk for suicide, demonstrate caring behavior, and refer or link youth to appropriate resources.

Community-Based Alternatives to Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities/Evaluation

In order to find alternatives to placement in Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTFs) so that children can thrive in their own homes and communities, the five-year demonstration project, Community-Based Alternatives to Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities, will enable the Florida Department of Children and Families, in collaboration with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to develop a comprehensive package of community-based services.  

Decreasing Adolescent Suicidality through a Multiple Component Suicide Prevention Program: Linking Adolescents at Risk to Mental Health Services

This project will be used to evaluate and refine the suicide prevention program at several high schools in the Albuquerque Public Schools system. It will provide an opportunity to evaluate the implementation and outcome of a Multiple Component Suicide Prevention Program (MCSPP) across several large urban schools with large Hispanic and Native American populations (two groups at very high risk of adolescent suicidality).

Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in Support of Quality Field-based Practice (SIP)

This research project aims to assist in building capacity and strengthening Family and School Support Team’s (FASST) infrastructure to improve access, availability, and quality of FASST services for children and families. This will be done by identifying (and linking to the literature base) current FASST program intervention and implementation components, analyzing FASST implementation in the context of the broader agency and system infrastructure, and documenting the process, outcomes, and lessons learned in creating program development guidelines and tools that will assist the Children’s Board in their efforts to develop research-grounded field-based practices within a framework that will maintain fidelity.      

Developing Systems of Care in African-American Communities Using Natural Supports

This research project focuses on the use of natural supports to improve service delivery in African-American communities.

Development of an Intervention Model to Improve Educational Outcomes of Youth in Foster Care by Decreasing Runaway Behavior (RUN Grant)

RUN Grant is developing an intervention model for decreasing runaway behavior of youth in foster care and improving educational outcomes. 

Effectiveness of a Parent Support Program: Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)

This four year study conducted a random controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of a parent-to-parent support program for families who have a child with serious emotional disturbances and served in a special education setting.

EQUIPO Leadership Training

EQUIPO is a front-line practice strategy. The EQUIPO curriculum is designed to strengthen the partnership between natural helpers in the community and formal service providers.

Evaluation of Community-Based Care and Title IV-E Waiver

This project examines the Title IV-E Waiver, which enables federal funds to be more flexibly spent on preventing children who come into contact with Florida’s child welfare system from being placed in out-of-home care.

Families and Children Together In Seminole (FACTS)

The FACTS system transformation is being implemented in order to ensure that services and supports for children, youth, young adults and families are integrated across human service systems and implemented consistent with System of Care and Trauma-informed Care values and principles.

Florida Center for Inclusive Communities-UCEDD

The Florida Center for Inclusive Communities - University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (FCIC-UCEDD) is part of a federally-funded network of 67 Centers across the United States and territories. UCEDDs have four broad tasks: conduct interdisciplinary training, promote community service programs, provide technical assistance at all levels (from local service delivery to community and state governments), and conduct research and dissemination activities.

Florida HIPPY AmeriCorps Initiative

Through this initiative, volunteering opportunities for staff and parents are incorporated into Florida HIPPY programs and HIPPY home visitors receive educational awards to further their own education.

Florida KIDS COUNT

Florida KIDS COUNT serves to centralize research, public education, and outreach activities benefiting the citizens of Florida. Efforts include maintaining a repository of statistical data, the development of child well-being indicators, providing technical assistance and consultation services, linkage to comprehensive policy analysis, and research in program development.

Florida's Positive Behavior Support Project (PBS)

PBS provides training and technical assistance to Florida school districts to increase their capacity to provide positive behavior support to students. Training and technical assistance are provided to implement PBS at the school, classroom, targeted group and individual student levels.

Healthy Transitions Initiative Process Evaluation

The purpose of this project is to conduct a four-year process evaluation for the Healthy Transitions Initiative, working with sites to assess the fidelity of program effort related to the comprehensive transitional support model for youth and young adults.

Many Faces of Trauma: Community Engaged Trauma Research

These initiatives are intended to facilitate development of partnerships and approaches that can remediate the psychological impact of trauma.

Online Learning in Children’s Mental Health

Cutting-edge research is presented by nationally known subject experts in policy and practice in children’s behavioral health. Three series including building effective systems of care in children’s mental health, creating effective child and family teams, and reducing mental health disparities are currently being disseminated. Online courses will be utilized by University faculty and community partners to develop their workforce at both the pre-service and in-service levels.

Parent Connectors

A parent support program to improve outcomes for students who have emotional disturbances.

Profiles of Children with High Utilization of State Inpatient Psychiatric Program

Excessive utilization of institutional mental health services has been of longstanding public concern because of the high cost of such care and its questionable efficacy. Although previous studies provided some information about child characteristics or factors associated with utilization of residential or inpatient mental health services, currently, little is known about predictors of longer length of stays and multiple re-admissions to the State Inpatient Psychiatric Program (SIPP) and appropriateness of SIPP care for children placed in this program.

Project Conectar: Building Capacity in a Community to Learn the Signs: Act Early

This project aims to reduce disparities in early identification of autism and other developmental disabilities (DD) and increase access to services in the largely Latino/Hispanic Little Havana community in Miami, FL. Prior to the project, families in Little Havana were not only not screening, they were seeing their children go without intervention, for the most part, until ages 7 or 8+.  

RAICES: Resources, Advocacy, Integration, Collaboration, Empowerment, and Services

The RAICES project was funded to develop a training curriculum that integrates the promotora outreach model with the local school-based case management program, known as the Family and School Support Team (FASST) to support families. This project is complete but being disseminated.

Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health

Funding for the Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health ended September, 2009. For 25 years, the Center supported the development of systems of care that provide access to effective care for children with mental health challenges and their families through an integrated set of research, training, consultation, and dissemination activities.

System of Care Development

This project provided technical assistance for three tasks in the Technical Assistance Partnership (TAP) III Option Year 1 contract.

System of Care Practice Review

SOCPR provides a tool for assessing whether system of care principles are operationalized at the level of practice. It also provides a measure of how well the overall service delivery system is meeting the needs of children with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families.

System of Care Practice Review (SOCPR) Component/Success for Kids & Families, Inc. (S4KF)

Success for Kids & Families, Inc. (S4KF) has a 3-year contract with the Florida Department of Children and Families to demonstrate the state pilot program for consumer-directed care. As part of this contract, Success for Kids & Families, Inc. is providing coordinated access for children’s mental health services, and providing assessment, triage, and family support planning. This study is designed to provide quality improvement feedback to Success for Kids & Families, Inc. regarding the experiences of children and families served through DCF SAMHPO funds.

System of Care Practice Review Training (SOCPR)

The SOCPR will support the mandate of Coordinated Access to bring mental health and developmental agencies together in the provision of case resolution and referral services through a focus on community-based, individualized and culturally competent care for children and families. This training will occur over the course of one year and will be conducted in five phases.  

Teaching Pyramid Research Project

This project is funded by the Institute for Education Science, and is a collaborative research study conducted by investigators at Vanderbilt University, the University of South Florida, and the University of Florida.

Theory-based Logic Models Technical Assistance and Training/CMHI National Evaluation

The USF Logic Model Team provides technical assistance to funded system of care communities. The USF Logic Model Team has worked with many communities to craft logic models that reflect their unique contexts and theories of change.

Theory-driven Evaluation for the Children’s Mental Health Initiative – Phases VI and VII

The purpose of this component of the National Evaluation is to build community capacity for system development by supporting community-driven planning, data-driven decision making, and evidence-based technical assistance through the use of theory-driven logic model development. This effort builds upon more than 10 years of established work on theory of change and logic model development in funded system of care communities.

Trauma Recovery Initiative for Youth (TRI) Center

The TRI Center aims to demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of sustainable, culturally competent, trauma-focused interventions and trauma-informed system approaches to ameliorate adverse consequences of complex trauma experience for abused and neglected youth in foster care and other out-of-home family care in the Florida Panhandle region.