What is the REACH Alliance?
The REACH Alliance is a diverse group of researchers, students, community members, mental health service providers, and individuals with lived experiences who are dedicated to understanding and addressing health disparities in mental health and substance use. This includes research on the many psychological, social, cultural, environmental, and policy-level influences on health outcomes, guided by the Social Ecological Model.
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What is our research about?Much of the research on health outcomes has focused on individual factors, overlooking the many broader influences on health. An individual focus on health disparities for marginalized groups only serves to deepen stigma, without accounting for the myriad ways that systems contribute to discrimination and lack of resource access for marginalized communities. The REACH Alliance is interested in improving health outcomes by working at multiple levels of the Social Ecological Model, over and above the individual. We are interested in understanding how personal relationships, organizational resources, and community cultures and identities influence health and wellbeing. Throughout our work, we emphasize community-based participatory research and seek to meaningfully engage partners from communities of interest to actively contribute to all aspects of the work being conducted. |
What are the main goals of our research?
Research falls into three main areas:
Promoting health and well-being for people in diverse and minoritized communities, particularly in the mental health conditions that impact them most. |
Understanding and addressing the
social and structural determinants of health that contribute to, or maintain, those health disparities. |
Improving mental health treatments and resources, so that all people have access to support and care that recognizes and values their identities and experiences.
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