BU researcher receives grant to improve behavioral health care for underserved kids, young adults

Carryl P. Navalta, PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has received a two-year, $476,194 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for his research, "Project EDUCATE" (Education to Deliver and Utilize Child and Adolescent Treatment Effectively).

Project EDUCATE will identify and train mental health counseling students. The student trainees will be placed in community-based facilities in the greater Boston area that serve medically underserved children, adolescents and young adults with diverse race or ethnicity, culture, language and service needs.

The Project is a partnership between a mental health counseling training program of a medical school and an initiative to comprehensively integrate behavioral healthcare services into primary care practices of community health centers."

Carryl P. Navalta, PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

The Project's goals include:

• establishing internships for mental health counseling trainees in community-based settings serving children, adolescents and young adults in underserved urban communities;
• increasing the number of clinical supervisors for mental health counseling trainees working with children, adolescents and young adults as well as enhancing training opportunities for faculty supervisors and clinical supervisors focused on the behavioral health needs of that population; and
• providing assistance and supports to connect mental health counseling graduates with employment opportunities.

While Navalta's general area of expertise is behavioral health disorders of childhood and adolescence, he has a strong interest in the neurobiological and psychosocial consequences of developmental adversity as well as effective, science-based interventions for such conditions. He was an investigator on several NIH grant-funded projects focused on understanding the neurobehavioral effects of childhood maltreatment (sexual and physical abuse, verbal abuse, witnessing domestic violence and other adverse childhood experiences).

He also served as a researcher on a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration-funded center devoted to developing, adapting, evaluating and disseminating effective treatment approaches for traumatized children and youth, such as Trauma Systems Therapy.

Navalta received his undergraduate degree in psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles and his MA and PhD from Binghamton University in Binghamton, NY.