Our mission

Practical implementation science for better youth mental health

The IMPACT Center uses implementation science to improve youth mental health outcomes in under-resourced communities. We create rigorous implementation strategies, methods, and toolkits that are relevant to real-world settings – helping researchers and practitioners implement evidence-based practices with fidelity in collaboration with community partners.

As the therapy group members listen, the teen boy shares his life experiences.

Barriers to optimization

To improve youth mental health outcomes, the IMPACT Center focuses on three critical challenges to implementing evidence-based practices with fidelity:

what

Identifying and prioritizing determinants

which

Matching strategies to prioritized determinants

how

Optimizing matched strategies for community settings

A tri-institutional partnership

The IMPACT Center brings together three research institutions dedicated to partnering with researchers, practitioners, and community members to improve equitable access to mental health care for all youth:

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute with Blue Kaiser Permanente logo in blue.
University of Washington with purple UW
University of Michigan logo in blue block letters with large M in yellow on left of text.

Our community partners

Our key partnerships help ensure that IMPACT Center products align with community and practitioner priorities and current evidence-based practice initiatives at state and national levels.

Discover more about our research

Our three signature projects employ and refine methods to address IMPACT’s three challenges.
Each project will develop and test practical strategies to improve treatment quality and client outcomes via evidence-based practice implementation.

Signature Project 1

Optimizing measurement-based care, a foundational framework for delivering evidence-based practice with fidelity

Signature Project 2

Optimizing and testing a peer-led, frontline leader-focused strategy to optimize cognitive behavior therapy for youth

Signature Project 3

Increasing reach and impact of an effective, multicomponent engagement strategy for clinicians in schools using cognitive behavioral therapy for youth

Learn about IMPACT Center methods for optimization