About

The DISRUPT Lab was established in the Fall of 2019 by Virginia A. Brown, assistant professor in the Department of Population Health in the Division of Community Engagement and Health Equity. The DISRUPT lab is a place where we discover new approaches, implement community interventions, support transformative education, research across disciplines, uplift all voices, practice and theorize. The lab seeks to find new and innovative ways to protect the autonomy of persons living with serious mental illness during a mental health crisis. We do this by co-creating with community stakeholders throughout the entire research process, from identifying key areas of investigation to disseminating findings for both academic and community use. We refer to this as collaborative sense making.

Projects

PCOR in Action

This project seeks to create a blueprint for implementing a collaborative and engaged community research environment by establishing the Collaborative Council for Mental Health (CCMH) to foster long-term patient-centered outcomes research and comparative effectiveness research (PCOR/CER) across the county.
Virginia A. Brown, MA, PhD
This project was funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

Assisted Outpatient Program

A SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) was awarded to Integral Care (July 2020) with a subaward to Dell Medical School where Virginia A. Brown leads the project components of evaluation and implementation of psychiatric advance directives. This award will develop an Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program to bridge the gap between inpatient and outpatient mental health services, improve treatment outcomes, and reduce incidence of inpatient psychiatric and reduce criminal justice involvement. The Austin AOT program presents a practice and evidence-based intervention designed to promote treatment adherence, empower client engagement in managing their care, reduce inpatient bed stays, and involvement with the criminal justice system.
Virginia A. Brown, MA, PhD
This project was funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

The Nature of Inquiry

This survey course of research design methods invites students into the research world with directions for pursuing careers in a wide range of careers and professions. This class covers the academic writing process from idea formation → proof of concept → data collection → data analysis → data distribution. It also emphasizes the cultivation of one’s unique writing style and voice
Virginia A. Brown, MA, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin

Psychiatric Advanced Directives

This project aims to recreate Psychiatric Advanced Directives, used by people suffering with serious mental illness, by utilizing community feedback and input. To achieve this, we are conducting a community engagement studio, or CES. A CES helps to create a better research project by including the feedback of community members (such as yourselves) from the very start of the project.
Virginia A. Brown, MA, PhD
This project was funded by St. David’s Healthcare