In addition to research, The Center for Behavioral Health Sciences is committed to community engagement, professional education, and the development of scholars in the areas of substance abuse and mental health.
Community Engagement. The Center seeks to create sustained partnerships between CSU and community stakeholders to provide state-of-the-art, culturally relevant information, prevention, services and research opportunities. The goals are to increase dialogue with the community on important topics related to addiction and mental health through community partnerships to impact adoption of evidence-based practices. Faculty affiliates can work with agency partners in researching the adaptation and implementation of evidence-based models, and examine their efficacy. In addition to building stronger relationships between the community and other regions of the state, these community engagement activities can enhance the well-being of neighborhoods as well as strengthening the local and regional workforce.
Professional Education. Develop professional education programs in a variety of areas to improve service delivery and promote evidence-based decision-making. Create innovative learning opportunities for students. Develop training and curricula for use in local and regional agencies and organizations and to disseminate statewide. Provide multi-disciplinary continuing education programs for mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment. Offer educational seminars for policy makers regarding effective strategies to address the opiate epidemic.
Development of Scholars. Develop undergraduate and graduate students, young scholars, health care professionals, and faculty in conducting intervention studies, field experiments, and mixed method studies. CSU already has an accredited certificate program in chemical dependency that can serve as a foundation for developing future scholars. This expertise can serve as a springboard to develop the capacity of emerging scholars to provide integrative behavioral health and substance abuse assessment, referral, and brief interventions, in primary care settings. Such activities will serve to develop a well-trained professional workforce in the areas of mental health and addiction.