How We Are Defining Community Engagement:
We value the voices of people with lived mental health experience and those who support them. Our mission is to lead the mental health research community and beyond in a working partnership with individuals with lived mental health experience, their families, and the agencies that serve them. Below are the four key services our Community Egagement Program offers.
Annual Assessments:
- Yearly administration and analysis of the Participatory Action Research Planning and Assessment Tool (PAR-PAT)
- Written summary of PAR-PAT results for the iSPARC annual report to fulfill requirements of the DMH contract
- Yearly administration of the Diversity and Engagement Survey, distributed to all iSPARC advisory board members
Individualized Researcher Consultation:
- CEP outreaches to iSPARC investigators to offer consultations on ongoing research projects based on annual PAR-PAT results
- CEP outreaches to iSPARC investigators to offer consults on developing grant proposals based on Grant Guru request forms
- At the request of iSPARC researchers and affiliates, CEP provides on-demand consultations (e.g., ways to increase level of engagement, troubleshooting barriers to engagement)
Group Training and Knowledge Sharing:
- Annual iSPARC-IL presentation based on common training needs identified in yearly PAR-PAT results
- Creation of one knowledge translation product per year. Recent examples:
- Top Tips for Running a Virtual Advisory Board
- Guidance for Researchers Visiting the weSPARC Insight Advisory Board
Support for iSPARC Advisory Boards:
- Board facilitation and administrative support for the weSPARC Insight Advisory Board, a board comprised of adults with lived experience of a mental health condition
- Quarterly support group for advisory board co-facilitators across iSPARC (e.g., YAB, FAB, weSPARC, Lifeline)
- On-demand consultations at the request of iSPARC advisory board co-facilitators (e.g., designing advisory board request forms, supporting board conflict resolution)
Advisory Boards:
Our advisory boards made up of those with lived experience, their families and caregivers.
Family Advisory Board (FAB): is a virtual board comprised of family and caregivers of people with lived mental health experience.
weSPARC Insight Adult Advisory Board: is a virtual board comprised of around 8 adults with lived experience of a mental health condition.
Young Adult Advisory Board (YAB): is a virtual board comprised of around 10 young adults between the ages of 18-30 years old with serious mental health conditions from all around the United States.
Interested in learning more about Community Engagement? Contact us:
Shaobing Su, PhD
shaobing.su@umassmed.edu
Holly St. Jean
holly.stjean@umassmed.edu
Mary Quill
mary.quill@umassmed.edu
