Since 1990 the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute, Inc. (NRI) has hosted an Annual Conference on State Mental Health Agency Services Research, Program Evaluation and Policy. The Conference provides one of the only national forums where public mental health agency researchers can share their work with colleagues from other states. The goals of the meeting are to provide an opportunity for researchers to disseminate the most current findings on service systems research and to continue to foster a network of individuals who are interested in public services research. A major theme of the next five conferences will be """"""""Science to Service - Service to Science"""""""". Presentations focused on evidence-based practices and their implementation based on science (science to service) and the experiences and lessons being learned by state mental health agencies and other organizations through their implementation efforts (service to science) will be included. The purpose of this grant application is to secure funding for the 2006-2010 meetings. Funds from an NIMH Conference grant will be used in conjunction with other small grants and in-kind contributions to fund this unique opportunity for networking and national knowledge dissemination. Research conducted in real public mental health settings do not often reach national audiences because state researchers lack the time and resources to spend on seeking publication. The NRI conference offers a forum for these useable results to reach a targeted audience of consumers, service providers, agency decision makers, and state and university researchers. The audience will also have an opportunity for open discussion of the field of mental health services and will help shape the future research agenda.
