CURRENT PROJECTS

New York School Depression Awareness, Recognition, and Treatment (DART) Partnership

Columbia Staff

Principal Investigator:

Jessica Mass Levitt, Ph.D.

Co-Investigators:

Peter S. Jensen, M.D.

Kimberly Hoagwood, Ph.D.

Anne Marie Albano, Ph.D.

Eliot Goldman, Ph.D.

Alissa Taylor, M.A. (Ph.D. expected September 2006)

Sandra Pimental, Ph.D.

Michael Bigley, M.S.S

Research Assistants: 

Lindsay Greene, B.S.

Funding Partners

The Leon Lowenstein Foundation

New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH)

Project Description

DART is a joint project between Columbia scientists, REACH staff, and New York State OMH’s Evidence Based Treatment and Dissemination Center (EBTDC).  DART provides specialized training on the identification and treatment of youth depression in middle and high school settings according to an evidence-based depression treatment model. The training includes:

• a two day training workshop on the identification and treatment of youth depression by a national depression expert
• one year of bi-weekly consultation on the continued use of the treatment
• an additional 6 months of monthly consultation support for some clinicians

DART is intended to provide mental health clinicians with valuable skills for working with depressed youth in the school setting and to ultimately enhance the quality of life for depressed children and their families.

DART is also intended to generate important information about how to best train clinicians in evidence-based practices so that youth and their families experience improved mental health and functioning as a result. Research measures are intended to be brief and clinically useful.

Support & Funding

This project is funded by a generous grant from the Leon Lowenstein Foundation