Achieving Mental Health Equity: Innovative Strategies to Overcome Implementation Barriers and Foster Authentic Community Partnerships

Over several decades, a great deal of scientific efforts have focused on documenting vast and varied inequities facing marginalized communities, understanding the social conditions rooted in systematic oppression that give rise to inequities, and more recently, the testing of interventions aimed at eliminating these inequities. However, these promising solutions have been hampered by a range of implementation challenges.

At times, well-intentioned efforts have inadvertently undermined communities and maintained the very inequities they seek to reduce. Thus, to effectively address the ongoing mental health crisis, we must establish a comprehensive framework that encompasses three crucial pillars. We must prioritize the creation of authentic collaborations with key community partners as well as engage in true power-sharing to ensure that interventions are relevant, appropriate, and meaningful to communities. Lastly, a range of community-situated implementation strategies must be in place so that they can support the long-term sustainability and impact of these programs. This talk will center on some innovative approaches led by Dr. Gabriela Nagy’s team that directly seeks to address these areas.

Guest:
Gabriela Nagy, PhD
Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee