Research Interests
Community living with mental illness: A sensory health initiative.
- July 2024 - present
- Project description: Our goal is to support the independent living and community integration of adults with serious mental illness (SMI). To achieve this goal, we will engage in collaborative participatory methods to understand the living skill and sensory health needs of adults with SMI in the community. We will convene workgroups with adults with SMI to address the following aims: Aim 1: Identify the critical living skill and sensory health needs of adults with SMI in the community. Aim 2: Develop a feasible and acceptable living skills screen for community behavioral health providers. Aim 3: Develop a feasible and acceptable sensory health screen for community behavioral health providers. Our long-term goal is to improve the sensory health and community integration of adults with SMI.
- Project Funding: Bass Connections, Duke University
- Project Budget: $25,000
- Project Period: 07/01/2024 – present
- Role: Project Team Leader
HomeLink
Sep 2018 – Present
- Project description: This project connects participants to: (1) stable and affordable housing; (2) enhanced psychosocial rehabilitation targeting independent living skills necessary to maintain stable housing; and (3) enrollment resources for health insurance, Medicaid, and mainstream benefits (e.g. Supplemental Security Income)/Social Security Disability Insurance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, etc.). We will accomplish these aims by creating a HomeLink team comprised of an Occupational Therapist (OT), Social Worker, Employment and Housing Specialist, and a Peer Support Specialist. The team will combine a variety of evidence-based practices (e.g., Housing First, motivational interviewing, illness management and recovery, etc.) to provide direct services and coordinate comprehensive case management with local mental health service providers to serve individuals who are chronically homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
- Project Funding: SAMHSA (Grant #s: 1H79SM080750-01 & 1H79SM088647-01)
- Project Budget: $4,930,228
- Project Period: 09/30/2018 – 09/29/2028
- Role: Co-Project Director
Homeless Outreach Behavioral Scale (HOBS)
- 2019 - Present
- Project description: In partnership with the LA County Department of Mental Health and UCLA, we used semi-structured interviews with homeless outreach teams to develop the HOBS to assist teams in identifying candidates for a specialized team targeting individual who are homeless and with severe mental illness. We are in the process of validating the scale and testing it for feasibility and acceptability. We are also developing training materials and a manual.
- Project Funding: Consultant contract with UCLA
- Role: Consultant and investigator
Selected Grants
HomeLink
Public ServicePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill · 2023 - 2025Moser DHHS Contract
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill · 2021 - 2025HomeLink
Public ServicePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill · 2021 - 2023External Relationships
- Center for Community Connection (C4CC)
- University of California Los Angeles
This faculty member (or a member of their immediate family) has reported outside activities with the companies, institutions, or organizations listed above. This information is available to institutional leadership and, when appropriate, management plans are in place to address potential conflicts of interest.