About the Center

The Research and Training Center for Children's Mental Health at USF's Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute was initiated in 1984 to address the need for improved services and outcomes for children with serious emotional/behavioral disabilities and their families.

Since that time, the Center has conducted research, synthesized and shared existing knowledge, provided training and consultation, and served as a resource for other researchers, policy makers, administrators in the public system, and organizations representing parents, consumers, advocates, professional societies, and practitioners. The Center’s annual conference has become the principal national forum for exploring research and evaluation findings related to the implementation of systems of care.

Building on previous investigations, the Center’s six integrated research projects are designed, in the short run, to enhance knowledge about effective implementation of systems of care, and, in the long run to make it possible for children with serious emotional disturbances to live, learn, work, and thrive in their own communities.

The Center has developed a theory of factors that contribute to effective implementation; within that theory is a strong emphasis on the importance of understanding from a systemic perspective the interrelationship between the different factors, and their relationship to the community culture and context in which a service delivery system exists.

The Center 's interconnected research projects use both quantitative and qualitative methods, and are holistic in their focus. The Center seeks to translate new knowledge from research into change in policy and practice through a targeted program of training, consultation, technical assistance, publication and dissemination. To support these efforts, the Center maintains dissemination partnerships with a range of organizations committed to help us present research findings in formats well-suited for key audiences of state and local policy makers, family organizations, researchers and representatives of related service sectors.