6 - Learning from Communities and Provider Voices: The Importance of Using Community Knowledge to Understand Behavioral Health Disparities and Solutions

Abstract Information: This roundtable will reflect on findings from studies with racially and ethnically diverse grassroots providers of behavioral health prevention, intervention programs, and service recipients. A key question that we bring to this discussion is how evaluators might engage with community knowledge as it relates to behavioral health, the causes of disparities, and community-defined solutions for reducing disparities and more effectively supporting the behavioral health needs of persistently underserved communities. Particular attention will be given to lessons learned from studies with grassroots providers, people with lived experience, and service users regarding community-defined behavioral health priorities. In addition, the roundtable discussants will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with translating behavioral health equity knowledge to practice in behavioral health systems. Presenters will also reflect on the benefits of engaging community knowledge and voice in behavioral health systems as a means of promoting equity and consider opportunities for evaluators to support incorporation of the social conditions experienced by communities of color and other underserved communities in efforts to improve behavioral health service systems.