In This Issue

Welcome to the April 2026 edition of Implementation in Action!

We’re excited to bring you another bimonthly roundup of insights, tools, and opportunities to support your organization in delivering effective mental health services. Each newsletter edition combines the latest research and expert knowledge with practical, real-world strategies that can help leaders drive meaningful practice change.

Learning Opportunities

Fostering Fidelity: Building Resilience & Sustainability into Peer Support Programs

Monday, May 4th | 12 p.m. (ET)

Successful peer support programs require continuous attention to resourcing effectively, building and training staff, and delivering meaningful services that meet the expectations of funders, consumers, families, and communities.

Join the East Coast Hub for the second session of our “Fostering Fidelity”, a dynamic, workshop designed to support leaders and implementers of peer-led organizations and programs in their efforts to strengthen fidelity to the peer support model while navigating real world challenges. This interactive workshop offers practical tools, skills, and insights that reinforce the core values of peer support and help participants build programs that are resilient, sustainable, scalable, and doable. Participants will deepen their understanding of what makes peer support unique and learn how to translate that knowledge into effective program implementation and long-term planning. Register here*

*This event is open to individuals working in HHS Regions 3 and 4, which include Alabama, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Practice‑Informed Conversations: Real‑World Perspectives on Rural Mental Health

Wednesday, May 27th | 12 p.m. (ET)

Join the East Coast Hub on Wednesday, May 27th for Practice‑Informed Conversations: Real‑World Perspectives on Rural Mental Health, a learning‑focused discussion with an experienced practitioner who will share her firsthand knowledge of working across rural settings. This upcoming session will highlight real‑world insight into implementation challenges and lessons learned in supporting mental health care in rural communities. Additional details will follow. Click here to register* or save the date and receive updates as they become available.

Navigating the Now

This set of five thoughtfully planned, national learning events features dynamic speakers who bring timely, relevant mental health topics to life through the lens of implementation science. Each event explores real-world pain points and current themes.

Systems Change for Organizational Wellness

April 28, 2026 | 1:00-2:00 pm (ET)

Join the Northeast Atlantic & Caribbean Hub for the final session in a three-part series led by Dr. Ashley E. Stewart. This series introduces a framework for sustainable, organization-wide wellness grounded in her adaptation of the Waters of Systems Change. Designed for teams at all levels, each session examines a distinct dimension of organizational wellness — structural, relational, and intrapersonal — offering participants both conceptual grounding and practical tools they can apply immediately within their roles. Whether a leader shaping policy, a supervisor supporting a team, or a coordinator navigating day-to-day dynamics, this series invites participants into a shared commitment to a healthier, more sustainable workplace culture. Participants are encouraged to attend the three parts of the series, as the content builds across the sessions. Register here!*

*This series is open to all states and territories.

Core Topic Spotlight

Influencing Factors - Identifying the Factors that Inform, Support, or Hinder Implementation

When a behavioral health practice struggles, it is rarely because the intervention itself is ineffective. Instead, outcomes often depend on the conditions surrounding implementation. For leaders and implementers, understanding these factors early on, and revisiting them often, can help create the conditions for a successful launch and sustained impact.

Factors that influence implementation, often called facilitators and barriers, are the conditions that affect whether a practice can be delivered, adapted, and sustained over time. These factors span multiple levels, including the practice itself, the workforce delivering the service, the organization structure, the community, and the broader system. Asking “Will this work in our setting, for our community, under our conditions?” is just as important as asking “Does this intervention work?”

Why It Matters:

Even evidence‑based practices can fall short if they are implemented without attention to context. Implementation factors shape everything from staff engagement and service delivery to client access and long‑term sustainability. Paying attention to these conditions can help a leader anticipate challenges, make informed decisions, and avoid mislabeling implementation issues as program failures.

How It Works:

Implementation success is rarely driven by a single issue. Instead, it reflects how multiple factors interact across levels, including:

The practice or intervention itself
The individuals receiving services
The staff delivering care
Organizational structures
Community context
Broader system and policy environments

Because these factors shift over time, identifying, understanding and addressing them requires an ongoing process.

Why do mental health programs struggle?

Mental health programs often struggle when implementation is treated as a one-and-done task rather than an adaptive process. Common challenges include misalignment between the practice and organizational capacity, staffing and training limitations, funding instability, limited leadership support, and external system pressures such as policy or reimbursement changes. When these barriers go unrecognized, teams may view challenges as evidence that a practice does not work, rather than as a signal that the implementation conditions need attention.

What helps make mental health programs successful?

Programs are more likely to succeed when leaders and implementers proactively identify facilitators and barriers early and revisit them regularly. Structured reflection, informed by staff and community input, allows teams to adapt thoughtfully rather than reactively.

Simple tools such as brief assessments, surveys, or guided team discussions can help identify what is supporting or hindering progress. These conversations provide an opportunity for reflection while also promoting honest input and shared problem-solving.

What should mental health leaders keep front and center?

Strong implementation leadership recognizes that context matters, adaptation is expected, and course correction is a sign of responsiveness. By continuously assessing implementation factors across the preparation, implementation, and sustainment stages, leaders can create the conditions needed for long‑term program success.

Key Takeaways:

Assess early and revisit often. Implementation factors change and require ongoing attention.
Look beyond the practice itself. Community, organizational, and system contexts matter.
Prioritize strategically. Focus first on barriers that are high‑impact and actionable.
Expect and plan for adaptation. Learning and adjustment are hallmarks of strong implementation.

Practical Resources for Identifying Factors

Contextual Determinants Affecting Implementation: Qualitative Interview Guide - This practical, user-friendly, five-question, semi-structured interview guide helps identify and understand the factors that may influence the implementation and sustainment of a practice. (Authors: Calhoun, C., Chokron Garneau, H., Aarons, G., Baumann, A., Damschroder, L. J., Lengnick-Hall, R., Mittman, B. S., Olatunde, P. F., Palinkas, L. A., & Rogal, S. S.).

Inventory of Factors Affecting Successful Implementation and Sustainment (IFASIS) - This quantitative survey asks about factors influencing implementation and their importance. It can be used with people in the organization or team to help identify and prioritize factors to address before and during implementation of a practice. (Chokron Garneau, H., Cheng, H., Magid, M., & McGovern, M.).

Prioritizing Implementation Barriers: Toolkit for Designing an Implementation Initiative - This toolkit helps implementation teams determine which barriers are most important to address when implementing a practice. This tool assumes that the team has already identified a list of barriers that could be addressed. (Author: Weiner, B. J.).

Connect & Collaborate

Stay Connected

Coming in June 2026: We’ll dive into what it takes to communicate about and market mental health programs. Communication and social marketing solutions can help organizations reach their key audiences, promote services, and influence positive behavioral change. Visit our website to learn more about Marketing Programs & Services! If you have questions, please reach out - send us an email, or follow us on LinkedIn.

Share Your Thoughts

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what topics you’d like to see in future issues or share your feedback to help us improve. Contact us with your thoughts, stories, or feedback.

Request Support

As part of the Center for Mental Health Implementation Support (CMHIS), the East Coast Hub offers assistance to grantees funded by SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services and mental health service providers in HHS Regions 3 and 4 (Alabama, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia). We can help you strengthen your mental health programs through community engagement, implementation planning, data use, outcome evaluation, and more. Please review our guidelines and submit a request.