Transferring clinical technology into clinical practice by training mental health professionals to utilize evidence-based practices and training empirical investigators in the area of mental health services research.

UNC Sheps Center Post-Doctoral Fellowships Mental Health Services Research.
The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in partnership with the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center, offers postdoctoral training opportunities for qualified candidates. Other collaborating units at UNC-CH include the Department of Social Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry. The program is supported by a National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Training Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health of the U.S. Public Health Service. The Program is intended to expand the pool of investigators capable of undertaking policy-relevant mental health services and systems research. It will assist persons with a doctoral degree in sociology, psychology, anthropology, social work, psychiatry, public health or related fields to gain experience in applying research methods to the systematic analysis and evaluation of mental health services and public policy issues. The emphases of the training program are the organization, financing, utilization, quality, and evaluation of mental health care services; public policies for ensuring access to such services; and the social epidemiology of mental disorders. The Program is committed to multidisciplinary training, a public sector orientation, and a special focus on persons with a severe and persistent mental illness. To apply, residents contact: Joseph Morrissey, Ph.D., UNC-Chapel Hill, CB#7590, Sheps Ctr. For Health Services Research, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590; telephone: (919)966-5829.

National Center for Child Traumatic Stress/National Child Traumatic Stress Network (Barbara J. Burns, Betsy Farmer, Charlene Allred). The mission of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network is to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatize children, their families and communities throughout the United States. The goals of the Network are to define the problem of Child Traumatic Stress; develop evidence-based, developmentally-sound assessments, interventions and treatments; and work to create a national network of organizations and institutions which provide services to traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States. This project is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2002-2004).

The National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives (NRC-PAD)
At the heart of an evolving debate in mental health policy, law, and bioethics lies a tension between the principle of respect for individual autonomy in healthcare decisions and the responsibility to provide appropriate services to persons with severe mental illness (SMI), many of whom experience intermittent impairment of decision-making capacity and fluctuating attitudes towards accepting treatment. A growing number of stakeholders assert that psychiatric advance directives (PADs) may help resolve this dilemma by promoting both autonomy and beneficial treatment for persons with disabling psychiatric illnesses. The National Resource Center for Psychiatric Advance Directives (www.nrc-pad.org) serves as a virtual community and electronic clearinghouse for diverse stakeholders interested in PADs and other forms of self-directed care. In this website, we provide toolkits and user friendly instructions for consumers, clinicians, and family members to complete psychiatric advance directives and health care power of attorney documents. Also, we include background information about PADs, an analysis of the history behind the development of PADs, links to websites with information about PADs, and links to PAD statutes. This site is supported by funding from the Greenwall Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mandated Community Treatment. (2005-2008).