The George Warren Brown School of Social Work (GWB) seeks five years of continued support for its predoctoral and postdoctoral training program in mental health services research. Our program prepares new investigators for research on the fractured mental health system of care, particularly in settings such as the social services where the most vulnerable populations predominate. An explicit model of quality research training, specifying the trainee and program-level outcomes and learning processes, guides our program. Trainee outcomes include knowledge about the mental health service delivery system, responsible conduct of science, disparities and cultural preferences; skill in research methods, scientific writing, and presentation of findings; and products as grant applications, a 3-5 year research agenda, and papers for publication. To attain these outcomes, we draw on experienced faculty mentors, an interdisciplinary curriculum, and a research intensive environment with over 90 studies and NIMH-funded research centers. All trainees gain hands-on experience with research. We again request support for nine predoctoral and two postdoctoral slots per year. We have successfully attracted, recruited, and retained high caliber trainees who publish in prestigious journals, learn to successfully submit and secure grant applications, and move into academic and research positions where they actively pursue their mental health research careers. Our program, which offers the only NIMH-funded postdoctoral training in a school of social work, is responsive to substantive concerns identified in the President's New Freedom Commission Report and to calls in the Bridging Science and Services Report for NIMH-funded research centers to serve as training environments.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 129 publications
