National Center for Mental Health Dissemination, Implementation and Sustainment - Stanford University's National Center for Mental Health: Dissemination, Implementation, and Sustainment (MHDIS) will develop pragmatic, accessible implementation science-based resources and provide high-impact technical assistance (TA) to build the capacity of SAMHSA recipients and mental health providers to disseminate, implement, and sustain effective practices, thereby increasing access to effective mental health services for people in need. Housed in the Stanford University School of Medicine’s Center for Dissemination and Implementation, the MHDIS brings together national leaders in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science, five bi-regional centers with long-standing expertise in delivering targeted and intensive TA, and a network of national, state, and local partners. People at risk for or with mental health disorders have difficulty accessing any care, effective treatments, or treatments delivered effectively (with high fidelity to original models), especially underserved and historically minoritized populations. These issues reflect gaps that the mental health field faces in dissemination, implementation, and sustainment of evidence-based practices (EBPs). D&I science is the study of how to successfully integrate effective interventions in settings. Current, non-research based TA relies on light touch strategies, such as webinars and one-time training, that have little to no impact on practice change, whereas mental health providers need intensive support to embed new, often complex or organization-level interventions. The MHDIS will provide targeted and intensive TA that is more likely to lead to practice change. Also, the MHDIS will have a unique focus on the how'' or process of practice change, translating findings from D&I science into pragmatic resources and targeted and intensive TA services to address national gaps, barriers, and problems faced by CMHS recipients and mental health-related organizations. The MHDIS has two goals and associated objectives. A) Increase availability of D&I science-based resources on how to disseminate, implement, and sustain effective practices. A Consultative Monitoring Board will provide guidance on MHDIS priorities and workplans. A Technical Expert Panel will work with MHDIS staff, regional partners including CMHS recipients and organizations that oversee or provide mental health services, and communications and marketing experts to identify, develop, and disseminate resources in eight core D&I science topic areas. B) Increase the capability of CMHS recipients and organizations that oversee or directly provide mental health services to disseminate, implement, and sustain effective practices. Five bi-regional Mental Health TA Centers (MHTACs) will be established and provide targeted and intensive TA, leveraging the eight core resource areas. They will work closely with SAMHSA-funded TA centers to provide them TA on how to design more effective services, and coordinate with them to provide TA (e.g., with the MHDIS/MHTACs providing expertise on the 'how’ of change management and the TA centers providing EBP-specific expertise). Our evaluation plan uses D&I science-based evaluation strategies to ensure that our resources and services have utility and acceptability and lead to practice change. Based on our focus on more resource-intensive, high impact TA and our audience of CMHS recipients and organizations that oversee or directly provide mental health services, we anticipate serving the following number of organizations: Y1-555; Y2-1,125; Y3-1,175; Y4-1,225; Y5-1,275; for a total-5,355.
