The UW ALACRITY Center is an incubator for new research and bold thinking in mental health. If you’re an academic who has a big idea, and you’d like to be considered for funding and support from our team, please fill out and submit a Request for Proposal (RFP). IMPORTANT DATES Indication of Interest Deadline: May… Read More

Each year, millions of Americans with mental illness struggle to find care. Nearly half of the 60 million adults and children living with mental health conditions in the United States go without any treatment. This short presentation, initially given at the 2021 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care by Emily Friedman,… Read More

The emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on everyone and has greatly intensified the need for accessible mental healthcare.  The UW ALACRITY Center was given a grant by the US National Institute for Mental Health to study the acceptability, usability, and effectiveness of mental health apps for suicide prevention among essential workers and… Read More

Julie A. Kientz is a Professor and Chair of the department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington. She directs the Computing for Healthy Living and Learning Lab, is active in the Design, Use, Build (dub) alliance, and has adjunct appointments in The Information School and Computer Science & Engineering. Dr.… Read More

The ALACRITY Center is taking on a new project in response to COVID-19, “Stay Connected: developing an intervention to promote mental health among isolated senior housing residents”. Leading the project are Patrick Raue, PhD, Patricia Areán, PhD, and Brenna Renn, PhD.  We will work with senior housing residents experiencing social distancing challenges to design a remote program… Read More

Amritha Bhat, MBBS, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist trained in both India and the United States, is currently an assistant professor in the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She earned her Master of Public Health through the UW School of Public Health. She established the perinatal psychiatry clinic at the University of Washington Medical Center and has… Read More

Stephanie is a postdoctoral research fellow in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her focus is in developing school-based interventions. Her unique approach to developing interventions is to target barriers related to ease of implementation, contextual relevance, and cultural responsiveness.  Currently Dr. Brewer is working to explore how Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) can be adapted to fit in a school setting. She and her team are conducting interviews with… Read More

We ended 2019 with 2 newly funded pilots making a total of 12 incubator research pilots representing 12 disciplines. The newly approved projects will add professional expertise in communication, health services, and gastroenterology. Read More

Daniel Stillman of The Conversation Factory led UW ALACRITY Center members and the larger Seattle #DesignThinking community in a workshop created to challenge your assumptions of how workshops should be run and hone skills to improve the quality of conversations.  Participants ran through several exercises to practice Daniel’s approach to facilitation and had a lot… Read More

Aaron Lyon recently met with Tim Hobbs and Maria Portugal from the Dartington Service Design Lab and Nick Axford (Plymouth University and Senior Lab Associate) at the European Society for Prevention Research conference in Ghent  #EUSPR19. Dartington Service Design Lab is another great organization working at the intersection of evidence-informed practice and user-centered design across the pond,… Read More

Methods Core co-lead with the UW ALACRITY, Aaron Lyon, Ph.D., has been selected to present at the 12th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation. His abstract is focused on Advancing the science of intervention adaptation: Integrating human-centered design and implementation science in the UW ALACRITY Center. He is scheduled to present in… Read More

Gary Hsieh, Co-P.I. for the ALACRITY pilot “Using Human Centered Design for Technology-Enabled Behavioral Treatment of Depression in Urban and Rural Cancer Centers” recently received a Fulbright Scholar grant. Hsieh will be a visiting professor at the 國立清華大學National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan for the 2019-2020 academic year, where he will collaborate with students and faculty on theory-driven behavior… Read More

Congratulations Julie Kientz, Co- P.I. of the ALACRITY pilot “Designing and Evaluating an Asynchronous Remote Communication Approach to Behavioral Activation with Clinicians and Adolescents at Risk for Depression”. Julie received the University of Washington College of Engineering 2019 award for teaching as a HCDE Associate Professor. Pictured above at the awards ceremony with Dean Michael Bragg and… Read More