School Updates
The School of Social Work’s newest center, the Center for Research on Innovations, Services and Equity in Mental Health (RISE-MH), aims to be an interdisciplinary hub for mental health services research that can immediately move the needle on mental health practice and policy.
RISE-MH grew out of the school’s long-standing efforts in mental health services research and a previous enterprise at the school, the Center for Interventions to Enhance Community Health, which also focused on mental health research and helped to establish the University’s expertise in the field. RISE-MH will continue this work with an expanded focus on equity and access.
RISE-MH investigators are currently working on cutting-edge projects that will directly affect mental health services. Among these is a large multisite project led by Assistant Professor Nev Jones that aims to understand and improve the work, school, and disability benefit decisions and outcomes of youths and young adults with early psychosis. RISE-MH Codirector and Associate Dean for Research Shaun Eack is conducting a comparative effectiveness study of two treatment approaches
for patients with schizophrenia across
New England.
“The University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work is ideally positioned to develop impactful interdisciplinary work that can truly change mental health policy and practice in ways that will improve the well-being of some of our most vulnerable citizens,” says Associate Professor Catherine Greeno, who also serves as RISE-MH codirector.
Anyone interested in knowing more about RISE-MH’s efforts to improve mental health services should contact Greeno at kgreeno@pitt.edu to learn more about current projects and how to participate in ongoing work group meetings.