Mental Health
The mission of the IHR mental health research team is to improve the understanding and management of mental health conditions for Kaiser Permanente members and the community through a closer connection between research, practice, and policy. The IHR's mental health research team is a member of the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN), a consortium of 13 health system research centers embedded in large and diverse healthcare systems. The MHRN is dedicated to improving patient mental health through research, practice, and policy; with expertise in mental health services and policy research. Support for MHRN is provided by a cooperative agreement from the National Institute of Mental Health. Specific areas of focus for the IHR mental health research team include in-person and web-based psychotherapies for prevention and treatment of depression among pregnant/postpartum and general adult populations, large-scale suicide prevention interventions, electronic medical records-based alerts to reduce inappropriate antipsychotic prescribing for youth, and identification and treatment of psychiatric disorders in medical settings.
Mental Health Researchers

Featured Projects
The major goal of this project was to conduct a pragmatic randomized clinical trial of the Mindful Mood Balance (MMB) web-based program to evaluate its effectiveness in reducing residual depressive symptoms (RDS) in recurrently depressed patients.
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
Study End Date: 06/30/2019
The goal of this project was to conduct a large, pragmatic trial to examine two population-based programs to prevent suicide attempt. Participants were randomly assigned to continued usual care or usual care supplemented by one of the two prevention programs: an outreach and care management program (via secure messaging and telephone) including structured assessment linked to specific care pathways, or an online psycho-educational program focused on development of emotion regulation skills and prevention of suicidal behaviors, supported by coaching to promote engagement and adherence.
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
Study End Date: 07/31/2020
This project will deliver firearm safe storage education via "Lock to Live" an anonymous web-based self-administered decision aid for safe firearm and medication storage in patients with suicide risk (Public URL: http://lock2live.com/).
Funder: Kaiser Permanente Firearm Safety Task Force
Study End Date: 05/2021
The proposed study seeks to conduct a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of NZSM implementation in real-world clinical settings across 6 large, diverse Mental Health Research Network affiliated Learning Healthcare Systems providing healthcare for over 9 million individuals each year. Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
Study End Date: 06/30/2022
The objective of this study was to use a three-phase structure to develop an activation peer delivery treatment model of web-based peer training and fidelity monitoring tools, to evaluate the feasibility, tolerability, acceptability, safety, and preliminary effectiveness of behavioral activation peer delivery within obstetric practice settings.
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
Study End Date: 07/31/2020
To provide targeted expansion of the Mental Health Network to 1) develop capacity to perform trials involving pharmacotherapy, 2) develop procedures for deploying large-scale mental health IT interventions, and 3) conduct a signature project of a large population impact on an area of high priority to the field.
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
Study End Date: 06/30/2024