CURRENT PROJECTS

The New York City Mental Health Assessment Partnership

Columbia University

Project Director:              

Jessica Mass Levitt, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator:

Peter S. Jensen, M.D.

Partners

New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

10 New York City Healthcare Providers

Project Description

The New York City Mental Health Assessment Partnership is a joint project between Columbia scientists, New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and 10 New York City Healthcare Providers.  The initiative has two main goals.  The first goal is to make an evidence-based psychiatric assessment tool available to mental health clinicians so they can provide the highest quality mental health assessments to youth in New York City schools. The second goal is to systematically evaluate the benefits of using an evidence-based tool in school-based health and mental health clinic settings.  To conduct this evaluation, a randomized-control design has been used: Half of the school-based clinics used the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC), a computerized, evidence-based assessment tool for the 2-year duration of the project. The remaining school-based clinics will report about their assessments as usual during the first year of the project, providing a comparison group.  During the second year, all school-based clinics will have the DISC available as well as the Diagnostic Predictive Scales (DPS), another evidence-based mental health assessment tool that is a shorter version of the DISC. 

The addition of evidence-based assessment tools in school-based health and mental health clinics is expected to improve the quality of services that are provided to a large number of youth in New York City public schools.  We expect these tools to aid clinicians' identification and treatment of youth who are at risk for a variety of emotional and behavioral problems, including depression, suicide, anxiety, and substance use.  In addition to enhancing services, the project will serve to inform local and national policymakers about the status of school-based mental health services and methods for improving assessment routines.

Support & Funding

This project is funded by a generous grant from the Leon Lowenstein Foundation, and the Carmel Hill Fund provides free DISC installations.

Links

Columbia DISC website

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene