Yale University's Program for Recovery and Community Health-in partnership with the State of Connecticut Departments of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Labor, and Bureau of Rehabilitation Services-will, over a five-year period, achieve as its first goal establishing a national program of excellence for postdoctoral training in recovery-oriented research to advance competitive integrated employment among persons with psychiatric disabilities. This program will attract researchers from a variety of fields and include especially those with lived experience of psychiatric and other disabilities. As its second goal, this program will provide training and mentoring to, and graduate, a cadre of three qualified researchers who will learn how to design, conduct, and disseminate rigorous, innovative, scientifically meritorious, and influential research on effective strategies for successfully employing persons with psychiatric disabilities in competitive integrated work settings. To achieve these goals, the program will address the following objectives: 1) Develop an Advisory Board; 2) Involve persons with psychiatric and other disabilities; 3) Conduct ongoing evaluations of activities; 4) Recruit qualified applicants from diverse cultural backgrounds from across the country; and 5) Develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive plan for training and mentoring selected postdoctoral fellows. During their two-year training period, each fellow will develop and complete an original, outstanding research project that will help establish their research careers while advancing the field of psychiatric rehabilitation. As a result, this program will prepare three aspiring investigators, especially including persons with lived experience of psychiatric and other disabilities, to become highly qualified, productive, and influential recovery-oriented researchers dedicated to advancing competitive integrated employment among persons with psychiatric disab
ilities.
