University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

(Press-News.org) With a new $11 million federal grant, the University of Oregon will create a national center for children’s mental health, putting the university at the forefront of national prevention efforts to improve the mental health and well-being of adolescents.

The center will be housed in the UO’s Prevention Science Institute. It will be funded over the next five years by the National Institute of Mental Health.

“This center will build on the strong work the UO’s Prevention Science Institute has done over decades in the area of school-based mental health prevention, bringing together faculty, community providers and expertise into one cohesive center that supports children's mental health,” said Beth Stormshak, Philip H. Knight Chair and professor in the counseling, psychology and human services department in the College of Education.

It will bring together local schools, community partners and more than a dozen faculty members and scores of students from the UO’s Prevention Science Institute, College of Education and the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health. Launched in 2022, the Ballmer Institute is a one-of-a-kind training program for the next generation of youth mental health professionals. With an undergraduate degree, child behavioral health specialists trained at the Ballmer Institute will help support children in clinics, schools and other community settings.

Together, the UO and partners will focus on identifying the best ways to deliver proven interventions to middle-school students and their families to prevent mental health issues and get help to students sooner.

“We're in a mental health crisis,” said John Seeley, professor and associate dean for research in the UO’s College of Education. “It has been growing over the past two decades, and as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, it put a spotlight on students who are suffering and needing additional supports. Over a quarter of middle-school age students reported high levels of symptoms of depression in the past year.”

Seeley continued: “We're at an inflection point where we need to focus on prevention efforts or we're going to have more students experiencing mental health crises, and we lack the mental health professionals to support students at that level.”

Laura Lee McIntyre was dean of the UO’s College of Education when the grant was announced.

“A center of this magnitude requires coordinated and collaborative efforts across our faculty who have deep expertise and experience in youth behavioral and mental health in schools,” she said. “This partnership across the College of Education, Prevention Science Institute, and the Ballmer Institute — with its emphasis on expanding the child behavioral health workforce — reflects a level of collaboration that allows us to leverage our collective expertise in youth behavioral and mental health and accelerate the impact of this work for youth and families.”

The $11 million grant will fund a large signature project and three related exploratory studies, with additional funding for pilot projects each year.

The signature project will combine the use of two well-known, long-standing evidence-based programs developed at the UO’s College of Education: Inclusive Skill-building Learning, known as ISLA, and the Family Check-Up.

Inclusive Skill-building Learning, led by Rhonda Nese, associate professor in the department of special education and clinical sciences, is a school-wide model focused on inclusion, supporting teachers and discipline practices that keep children engaged in school. The Family Check-Up, led by Stormshak, is an intervention that helps parents support their children’s mental health and development, especially during the middle school years.

“For the first time, we’ll combine both of those interventions in schools across Oregon,” said Stormshak, principal investigator of the signature project. Teachers will receive the training in ISLA, and the families of students who need extra support will have access to the Family Check-Up, she said.

The three exploratory projects include:

Deliver iTRAC (Talking about Risk and Adolescent Choices) in middle school classrooms and test its effectiveness as a way to support children’s mental health. Led by Wendy Hadley, a developer of iTRAC and an associate professor in counseling psychology and prevention science in the College of Education. She is also the Julie and Keith Thomson Faculty Chair and HEDCO Clinic director. Use the TECH Check-Up intervention to support middle-school age children’s healthy use of technology. Led by Jen Doty, developer of the TECH Check-Up and associate professor of counseling psychology and family and human services in the College of Education. Co-led by Ariel Williamson, assistant professor in the psychology department and at the Ballmer Institute. Explore how to best partner with schools to implement the Ballmer Institute model in which child behavioral health undergraduates gain clinical experience by interning in middle schools. Led by Seeley and Prerna Martin, assistant research professor at the Ballmer Institute. Co-led by Evelyn Cho, assistant professor in the psychology department and at the Ballmer Institute. The additional funding for pilot projects will focus on training and supporting the next generation of researchers, with opportunities for graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and early-stage investigators to collaborate on interdisciplinary research in youth mental health.

Over the years, long-time collaborators Stormshak and Seeley have developed evidence-based mental health interventions. Now they’re focused on how to implement those interventions effectively in schools.

“That's what we really want to understand,” Stormshak said. “How do we develop interventions at a university and then adapt them and make them accessible and feasible in real-world settings, which is our ultimate goal.

“Throughout all three projects, we’re going to have the opportunity to partner with schools to better understand how to deliver these interventions in schools so we can reach the most children and families,” she said.

The $11 million center grant is just a starting point.

“The goal of this center is to broaden this research and its impact,” Seeley said. “We expect that the exploratory projects will generate more funding for the university and expand the testing of those interventions as well as our pilot research. This is seed funding to stimulate more research in this area over time.”

— By Sherri Buri McDonald, University Communications

About the University of Oregon College of Education 
The University of Oregon College of Education is a community of leading researchers and practitioners dedicated to transformational scholarship, integrated teaching, and collaborative practice designed to enhance individual lives and systems. The College of Education is UO’s highest-ranking and largest research-contributing college known for its innovative teaching and research in special education, counseling psychology, human services, education, and prevention science. The college is a leader in culturally responsive Indigenous and bilingual teacher preparation programs as well as community-based research.

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