Learning Communities

Currently, representatives from all areas of the mental health care system are meeting monthly to find research-based mental health care treatments that are not yet practiced in Tarrant County. Each Learning Community is focusing on a specific diagnostic area, reviewing existing research and seeking programs and practices that will work in Tarrant County. At the end of six months, each group will issue an executive summary of its findings and recommend an evidence-based practice to be piloted in Tarrant County.

The first three Learning Communities, which met from June through December 2007, issued their reports and recommendations in December 2007. Proposed pilot programs include:

Addiction Disorders
Champion an Addiction Diversion Program that offers students with alcohol violations an alternative to being removed from their home schools and placed at alternative schools.

Externalizing Disorders
Implement Quest for Competency in two practice areas: Parent Management Techniques and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy practices.

Internalizing Disorders
Implement a county-wide Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Certification(CBT) /Training Program.

 

Each Learning Communities is charged with:

• Reviewing research papers
• Summarizing evidence-based practices for specific mental health diagnoses
• Identifying the connection of the evidence to the needs of Tarrant County
• Identifying barriers to effective implementation, including policy issues
• Recommending an evidence-based practice for Tarrant County to pilot
• Suggesting strategies for keeping the knowledge current and widely shared among physicians, mental health care providers and consumers
• Coming to consensus on the value and relevance of the research for Tarrant County
• Creating a community-wide implementation and action plan for researchers, practitioners and policy makers
  

From January through May 2008, Learning Communities are focusing on:

• At-Risk/Prevention (Public Health Issues, Infant Mental Health)
• Developmental Disorders (Autism and Asperger's Syndrome Spectrum)
• Trauma/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Ideally, each Learning Community includes:

• Researchers
• Policy Makers/Policy Experts
• Agency Executives/Decision Makers
• Pediatricians or Other Primary Care Physicians
• Faith Leaders/Chaplains
• Private Practitioners (psychiatrists, psychologists, etc.)
• School Staff/Educators
• Direct Service Staff
• Supervisors
• Parents/Family Members/Consumers of Mental Health Care
• College Students
• RNs/Nurse Practitioners
• Substance Abuse Treatment/Prevention Providers

Each Learning Community's reports will be posted on the Mental Health Connection Web site as they are issued.

Final Reports from Addictions, Externalizing and Internalizing Learning Communities

Learning Communities Blogs