Extending the Reach of Mental Health Services Through Technology

The Enhancing Triage and Utilization for Depression and Emergent Suicidality (ETUDES) Center is a Center of Excellence (P50) grant renewal funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Throughout ETUDES, we will be centering the voices of patients, caregivers and clinicians.

Throughout ETUDES, we will be centering the voices of patients, caregivers and clinicians. —

Supporting Education and Innovation

The focus of the ETUDES Center is to augment the capacity of pediatric primary care providers to identify, refer, and manage youth at risk for suicidal behavior, with an emphasis on ensuring the tools developed are effective and acceptable for youth and families of color. Members of the team will also develop and study interventions designed to target known risk factors for depression and suicidal behavior, namely poor sleep, low activity and online victimization.

Our Goals

ETUDES will bring together the networks of two of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals, with three primary goals:

1.    Develop implementation-ready tools for pediatric health care providers that will reduce the rate of adolescent suicide and suicidal behavior;
2.    Augment the capacity of pediatric primary care for suicidal youth;
3.    Train a diverse national cohort of researchers with capacity to address the current mental health crisis among youth. 

We are developing several different types of technologies, including mobile apps, text messaging systems and clinician decision-support tools for the electronic health record. The goal is for pediatricians and families to have tools to improve all parts of the care process: identifying teens at risk of depression or suicide, helping families understand treatment options and preferences, keeping teens safe at home and helping families engage in mental health care