Community mental health services: Translating community concerns into research partnerships

Wayne State University Project CARE (Consultation Assessment Research Education) is working with the Detroit Wayne County Community Mental Health (Agency) to implement evidence-based practices throughout the system that supports over 55,000 ethnically diverse, low income consumers with incapacitating mental disorders. Two integral components of the partnership between the Agency and Project CARE are the Community Planning Council and the Research Advisory Committee. In parallel with the national emphasis on translational research, the Research Advisory Committee is represented by professionals from diverse community agencies, university researchers and leadership from the Agency. Members of the Research Advisory Committee are working to develop a plan for community-based research that incorporates outcomes of interest to clinicians, administrators, the community mental health agency as well as the research community. One driving force that has strengthened this work has been the Community Planning Council. Initiated in 2005, the Council is composed of 30 community stakeholders who serve as an advisory body to the Agency and are supporting a translational research agenda that will ultimately help their constituencies implement evidence-based practices as effectively as possible. The Community Planning Council and the Research Advisory Committee will be working closely together to advance this agenda. The strategies employed, successful and unsuccessful, to establish a community-based research agenda and reach consensus on an implementation plan will be presented in the context of system transformation. The public health implications of the diverse perspectives and priorities among consumers, clinicians and the community mental health administrators will be highlighted.