ADDRESS Mental Health Lab
Advancing Design and Delivery of Responsive, Effective, and Sustainable Services for Mental Health
Lab Director: Alayna Park, PhD
Email: apark1@paloaltou.edu https://www.addressmentalhealth.org/ **Not accepting new students**Overview
Our lab’s mission is to promote human well-being and functioning through improving the accessibility, quality, and effectiveness of mental health services, particularly for historically underserved communities.
Our community-engaged research focuses on three interrelated pursuits:
1. Enhancing mental health treatment engagement. An estimated one in five Americans experience functionally-impairing social, emotional, or behavioral problems. However, nearly two-thirds of individuals with mental health needs never enroll in services with a professional, and approximately half of those who do enroll in services drop out of treatment prematurely. Our work seeks to elucidate and address client, provider, organizational, and socioeconomic factors that affect individuals’ access to and participation in mental health services.
2. Re-designing mental health programs. Hundreds of mental health programs have been developed, tested, and shown to be efficacious for addressing a variety of mental health concerns. On one hand, this represents remarkable knowledge toward promoting human well-being and functioning. On the other hand, this may pose the problem of having too many options. For instance, it would be impossible for providers to be aware of, trained in, and competent delivering more than a handful of these efficacious mental health programs. Therefore, our work focuses on distilling common elements from efficacious mental health programs and designing modular protocols that are informed by research evidence but that allow for flexibility to accommodate individual needs.
3. Supporting evidence-based practice in diverse and dynamic contexts. When tested in randomized clinical trials, evidence-based treatments consistently outperform usual care. However, when evidence-based treatments are tested in public sector mental health settings, their effect sizes are significantly diminished. A commonly voiced concern is that many evidence-based treatments are not designed to accommodate the complexity of real-world clients and contexts. Our work aims to understand how evidence-based treatments are implemented in public sector mental health settings, including when, how, and why mental health providers adapt treatment to better meet the needs of their clients.
Ongoing Lab Projects
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Needs Assessment: This project seeks to understand barriers and facilitators to providing high-quality community mental health services to historically underserved youth and families. Student opportunities include: enhancing knowledge on community mental health; gaining skills in qualitative data analysis, communicating findings to our community partner, and collaborating on conference presentations and scientific manuscripts.
- Prevention in Non-Traditional Settings: This project will review the literature on adolescent mental health promotion programs conducted in non-traditional settings (e.g., afterschool programs, libraries). Student opportunities include: enhancing knowledge on prevention and implementation science; gaining skills conducting a systematic literature review; and collaborating on conference presentations and scientific manuscripts.
- Dissemination of Behavior Management Techniques: In collaboration with Dr. Eduardo Bunge’s CAPT lab, this project will assess the acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and effectiveness of behavior management classes for parents and teachers at local elementary and middle schools. Student opportunities include: co-leading behavior management classes; enhancing knowledge on dissemination and implementation science; communicating findings to our school partners; and collaborating on conference presentations and scientific manuscripts.
- Collaborations: Our lab collaborates with Dr. Shannon Wiltsey Stirman (National Center for PTSD, Stanford University), Dr. Bruce Chorpita (UCLA), Dr. Kimberly Becker (University of South Carolina), and Judge Baker Children’s Center. Student opportunities include: expanding your professional network; training in evidence-based psychotherapies; accessing data from randomized clinical trials and learning collaboratives; and collaborating on conference presentations and scientific manuscripts.
Lab Expectations
· Conduct your dissertation research
· Contribute to at least one other graduate student’s dissertation research
· Present at least one first-authored poster, paper talk, or symposium
· Contribute to at least one peer-reviewed publication
· Attend weekly lab meetings
· Help supervise and mentor junior graduate students and volunteers in the lab
Learn more about our lab policies, expectations, and culture by reviewing our lab manual: https://osf.io/sqawc/.
Application Process
There will be three openings for new lab members. Students interested in joining our lab are asked to email the following materials to Dr. Park (apark1@paloaltou.edu) by the uniform research group application deadline:
1. Cover letter (1-2 pages) describing relevant professional experiences, research interests, and broad career goals
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Unofficial PAU transcript (Note: Little weight is placed on graduate GPA, but applicants should be in good academic standing)
4. Contact information (name, email address) for two references
Students are encouraged to attend our lab meetings and student office hours to assess whether our lab may be a good fit for their interests, goals, and values. Qualities valued in doctoral students include: (a) ability to work well independently and as part of a team; (b) dependability; (c) eagerness to learn; and (d) receptiveness to feedback. Dr. Park will interview a select group of applicants.
Notification: Students accepted into the ADDRESS Mental Health Lab will be notified by phone and email on the PAU uniform notification date.
Selected Publications
Park, A. L., Becker, K. D., Boustani, M. M., & Chorpita, B. F. (2019). Decision-making in mental health care: Measuring provider and supervisor use of evidence. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 1-13. Park, A. L., Boustani, M. M, Saifan, D.*, Gellatly, R.*, Letamendi, A., Stanick, C., ... & Chorpita, B. F. (2019). Community mental health professionals’ perceptions about engaging underserved populations. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 1-14. Park, A. L., Moskowitz, A. L., & Chorpita, B. F. (2018). Community-based providers’ selection of practices for children and adolescents with comorbid mental health problems. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 47(5), 796-807. Park, A. L., Tsai, K. H., Guan, K., & Chorpita, B. F. (2018). Unintended consequences of evidence-based treatment policy reform: Is implementation the goal or the strategy for higher quality care? Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 45(4), 649-660. Chorpita, B. F., Daleiden, E. L., Park, A. L., Ward, A. M., Levy, M. C., Cromley, T., ... & Krull, J. L. (2017). Child STEPs in California: A cluster randomized effectiveness trial comparing modular treatment with community implemented treatment for youth with anxiety, depression, conduct problems, or traumatic stress. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85(1), 13-25.