Best practices: A national mental health learning collaborative on supported employment

Abstract

This column describes a best practice for dissemination and implementation used by the Johnson & Johnson-Dartmouth Program: a national learning collaborative among community mental health programs on supported employment. In this two-tiered learning collaborative, researchers meet regularly with mental health and vocational rehabilitation leaders in 12 states and the District of Columbia, and state leaders oversee more than 130 individual programs in their respective states. Participants share educational programs, implementation and intervention strategies, practice experiences, outcome data, and research projects. The national learning collaborative facilitates implementation, dissemination, standardization, and sustainability of supported employment.