Global Mental Health Research Lab at Pitzer

Traditional in-person psychotherapies are proving incapable of addressing mental health needs globally. Fundamentally new approaches are needed to increase access to effective mental health care in a way that is affordable, feasible, scalable and culturally appropriate. Computer-based interventions and task sharing, where mental health care is provided by non-specialist providers (e.g., peer-counselors, clergy, community members), have recently been explored as promising strategies for overcoming human resource shortages and helping close the large gap between mental health treatment need and actual treatment received. The overarching aim of my research is to provide new insights into effective ways of leveraging technology, peer-counseling and low-intensity evidence-based strategies and principles of change to increase access to mental health care. More specifically, my current research focuses on using peer-counseling to enhance engagement (lower attrition, higher adherence) to brief, online, self-guided interventions based on mindfulness and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).