Behavioral Health

This project was designed to develop a suite of stakeholder-informed resources to integrate youth engagement strategies in federal agencies and federally funded programs.

This training and technical assistance program delivered the crisis intervention training (CIT) model, developed by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, to law enforcement agencies, along with a suite of resources and technical assistance. The program goal is to improve law enforcement’s reaction to and interaction with people with mental illness, thereby increasing officer and community safety.

This national program was designed to operationalize SAMHSA’s existing wellness initiative. The Program to Achieve Wellness (PAW) promoted recovery and holistic well-being for people across the country through the development of online wellness and technical assistance products and resources, provision of technical assistance, and recognition of innovative and successful wellness programs.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge—Serious Mental Illness Technical Assistance contract provides intensive technical assistance to the selected Safety and Justice Challenge jurisdictions that have targeted initiatives for people with serious mental illness.

PRA’s sister firm, Policy Research, Inc., operated the Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Collaborative for Change (CfC) from 2013 to 2016. The CfC was a national technical assistance and training center that promoted the replication of models and innovations to improve the services for youth with mental health needs involved with the juvenile justice system.

Policy Research, Inc. operated SAMHSA’s Statewide Family and Consumer Networks (FCN) TA Center from 2009-2014. The FCN TA Center provided TA to grantees of the Statewide Family and Consumer Networks grant programs (SFN/SCN). Grantees of each program received three-year grants from SAMHSA to develop the infrastructure and business models needed to serve as their state’s resource and advocacy organization for families and youth (SFN) and for adults (SCN) with mental illness.

PRA served as the coordinating center for SAMHSA’s groundbreaking Women, Co-occurring Disorders, and Violence Study (WCDVS) from 1998-2005. The WCDVS sought to develop, implement, and then evaluate the effectiveness of comprehensive, integrated, trauma-informed treatment models on outcomes for women with co-occurring disorders and trauma histories. PRA led the intervention development in Phase I of the study and the evaluation in Phase II. The Phase II evaluation followed over 2700 women, across nine study sites to examine outcomes across a variety of domains, as well as programmatic and cost outcomes.

PRA operated NRCHMI for SAMHSA from 1988 to 2004. Under PRA’s leadership, the Center became the national locus of information for evidence-based housing and service approaches for adults with behavioral health disorders who were homeless or at-risk of homelessness. PRA staff and consultants provided technical assistance to SAMHSA grantees, including the ACCESS Demonstration Program, the Collaborative Program to Prevent Homelessness, SAMHSA’s Supported Housing Study, and the Homeless Families Program.

PRA was part of a Coordinating Center team for SAMHSA’s Supportive Housing Initiative and Homeless Families Program, two SAMHSA-funded, multi-site evaluations of recovery services for individuals and families with behavioral health issues experiencing homelessness. PRA staff facilitated the multi-site Steering Committees, developed and piloted the common data collection protocols, and managed the logistics of the Steering Committees and Consumer Advisory Panels by facilitating teleconference calls and onsite meetings.