CoLab for Community and Behavioral Health Policy

CoLab reimagines how evidence can be integrated with community expertise to advance behavioral health policy.

We are housed under the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

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What We Do

To support our collaborative social innovation framework, the UW CoLab provides development and implementation support for behavioral health programs and systems, evidence translation and synthesis services, and evidence-based policy and programmatic decision support. We work with a variety of community stakeholders, including policymakers, community-based organizations and coalitions, government agencies and administrators, service providers, and healthcare payers.
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Our Partners & Funders

We partner with a wide variety of collaborators and funders to support the CoLab and its individual projects. CoLab project collaborators include philanthropy, policymakers, community-based organizations and coalitions, government agencies and administrators, service providers, and healthcare payers. Our funding partners include national and local foundations as well as federal, state, and county level funding mechanisms.

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Our Approach

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CoDesign

A participatory approach

CoDesign combines research synthesis with the industry or community expertise of actors in a particular policy or practice market. It takes a partnership approach, wherein end users are actively involved in the design process to help ensure that the outcome meets their needs and expectations. This approach supports the development and implementation of behavioral health programs and systems.

Evidence Translation & Synthesis

Specific policy & systems questions

The CoLab provides evidence translation and synthesis services to a variety of community and organizational stakeholders. These services range in scope and depth depending on each project’s needs.

Evidence-Based Decision-Making Support

programmatic and Systems level decision support

CoLab researchers use industry expertise, evidence synthesis, and project-specific data analysis to support collaborators in programmatic and systems level decision-making.

Our Projects

See below for a selection of our current projects. Click through to view each individual project page for more information.

Evidence-based practice institute (EBPI)

EBPI is a partnership between the CoLab and the WA State Healthcare Authority (HCA) that focuses on: (1) Training and technical assistance to providers on use of EBPs; (2) Research on use of EBPs; (3) Policy to improve use of EBPs; (4) Development of a University workforce initiative to support training.

BEHAVIORAL INCENTIVES FOR INCREASING QUALITY (WA-BIIQ)

This pilot study being done in Wenatchee and Yakima aims to assess streamlining monitoring and support options for improving client outcomes in children’s mental and behavioral health systems.

Reengineering siloed systems of care

The CoLab and WA Healthcare Authority (HCA) are piloting a new “System Codesign” approach to address youth behavioral health needs in Gray’s Harbor, WA.

Rapid Evidence Reviews (RER)

The CoLab frequently partners with policymakers, organizations and agencies to conduct RERs, which take a relatively short time to complete, can encompass a wide range of research topics, and have transparent and structured processes.

Housing Stability for Youth in Courts (H-SYNC)

H-SYNC is a prevention tool for youth homelessness developed by the CoLab team in collaboration with workgroups in Snohomish and Kitsap Counties. The model uses routine practices already embedded in court systems to automatically identify and refer youth and families to needed prevention/intervention services.

Accelerating Research Use in Courts (ARC)

To help bridge the research-to-practice gap, ARC will assess the validity, reliability, and sensitivity of a new Conceptual Research Use (CRU) tool in a large sample of juvenile court staff in Washington, Utah, and Los Angeles, California.

Opportunity-based probation (OBP)

The CoLab is partnering with Pierce Co. to facilitate the implementation and preliminary analysis of the OBP program, wherein youth create meaningful goals and incentives that reward prosocial behavior

Redesigning Data to Reduce Disparities

The CoLab is partnering with the WA Partnership Council on Juvenile Justice (WA-PCJJ) and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to assess how to invest in better development, distribution, and use of disparity data in juvenile arrest/referral.

“

Research on and knowledge of the social determinants of health and ways to act for health equity will rely on continuing commitments among academics and practitioners.”

—World Health Organization (WHO)

Our Team

The CoLab team is a group of dedicated experts in behavioral health research translation, synthesis, and codesign. Click through to learn more.

Meet the Team

Connect

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