SPARC
As a Massachusetts
Department of Mental Health Research Center of Excellence, SPARC aims to improve the mental and behavioral health of all citizens of Massachusetts and beyond.
SPARC
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Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research
promotes the full participation in socially valued roles of transition-age youth and young adults (ages 14-30) with serious mental health conditions.
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SPARC and the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research are committed to transferring knowledge and insights gained through rigorous research to improve the lives of people with lived mental health experience.
We conduct Participatory Action Research, an all-inclusive approach that ensures that every aspect of our research incorporates the voices of those with lived mental health experience.
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We want to hear from you!
If you are interested in knowing more about a particular area of research or want to collaborate with us, please let us know
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Don't miss our February 6th webinar featuring Chuck Lidz, Ph.D.!
Improving Informed Consent to Clinical Research
Clinical research participants are often described as having therapeutic misconception when they lack adequate appreciation of one or more essential differences between clinical research and usual medical care. Therapeutic misconception creates a tension between the need to protect the rights of individual participants and the importance of promoting research that advances the public good. Little attention has been paid to studying ways to reduce therapeutic misconception. Learn more in our upcoming webinar!
Date & Time:
February 6, 2018
1:00PM to 2:00PM EST
Local
SPARC and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Commonwealth Research Center will be hosting the annual
Massachusetts DMH Research Centers of Excellence Conference on Thursday, March 29, 2018 at UMass Medical School in Worcester. This year's focus is on Person-Centered Integrated Care. Stay tuned for more details!
Find materials for previous years here.
National
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Find Out What's Happening at SPARC
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Our Top 5 Products of 2017
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Happy 2018!
Check-out our most popular products from 2017. Did you miss out on one?
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In August 2017, SPARC Director, Maryann Davis, Ph.D., was one of 14 national experts appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC). In its first report to Congress, released in December 2017, the Committee shines a spotlight on critical issues and needed services for Americans living with serious mental illness and serious emotional disturbances, and the importance of concerted efforts by the federal government to address these issues. The report presents the current status of federal activities, a summary of advances in the care and treatment, and research and strategies to improve services for individuals with serious mental illness/emotional disturbances.
Watch the December 14 press
conference
about the
ISMICC Report to Congress 2017
.
Get the full report of
The Way Forward: Federal Action for a System That Works for All People Living With SMI and SED and Their Families and Caregivers
on
SAMHSA's website
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SoAP Podcast by Ekaterina Pivovarova, Ph.D.
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Dr. Ekaterina Pivovarova's Using Drug Treatment Courts to Manage Substance Use Disorders podcast addresses:
- Developing an understanding about the importance of addressing substance use disorders in criminal justice populations,
- Exploring the efficacy of drug treatment courts and ways of improving retention in existing programs, and
- Understanding the relationship between comorbid medical conditions, addiction, and quality of life in criminal justice populations.
Listen to the podcast.
Want to learn more about Dr. Pivovarova's work? Find it here.
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The Family Model provides clinicians
and
managers with a
brief, accessible, and practical approach that supports collaborative ways of working with individuals and their families in which one or more members experience mental illness. It can be used as a tool to foster engagement and facilitate thought about connections between symptoms and relationships, while highlighting a family's strengths and difficulties.
Enhancing Family Communication in Families Where a Parent has a Mental Illness discusses the Think Family-Whole Family Programme, which differs from other interventions by putting a central focus on fostering effective communication within families. This can enhance families' understanding of parental mental illness and how it affects behavior and relationships, help families jointly set goals for recovery, and enable more supportive interactions among family members.
Learn about a SPARC study that aims to improve Deaf people's trust and involvement in biomedical research. The Deaf ACCESS: Adapting Consent through Community Engagement and State-of-the-art Simulation project is led by Melissa Anderson from SPARC and Co-Investigator Timothy Riker from Brown University. See the companion ASL video here.
Read more about the Deaf ACCESS study
here
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Physical and mental health go hand-in-hand. Check out these
personal wellness videos
developed by SPARC's Mental Health Experienced & Years of Understanding (MHE & YOU) Advisory Council.
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Did you miss our most recent webinars? Catch up here! You'll find:
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