COmmunity-Based Collaboration to Address the Mental Health PILLAR in PCOR/CER Research (CO-PILLAR)
The CO-PILLAR project was co-developed by the PATIENTS Program and the project’s council of community partners to learn about community mental health issues. We talked about what community members are doing about the four pillars of health -- physical, spiritual, financial, and mental -- in their community.
- Download the CO-PILLAR Resource Guide with resources for mental health, health insurance, grief, and health care systems.
- View and download a CO-PILLAR infographic with additional information about the Four Pillars of Health.
CO-PILLAR at PATIENTS Day
The CO-PILLAR project was featured at PATIENTS Day, where Jazmiera Smothers, an engaged Community Advisory Board member, and Thomas “Joe” Howarth, Lead Training Specialist for the PATIENTS Program, shared how CO-PILLAR empowers research by amplifying the community's voice.
Episodes of the Bridge Podcast
Three of the episodes of our podcast, The Bridge, featured guests involved in the CO-PILLAR project. These episodes focused on issues around mental health such as grief as well as physical, spiritual, and financial health.
1. Mental Health Challenges in the LGBTQ+ Community
Discover the profound challenges of mental health within the LGBTQ+ community in our latest episode of The Bridge podcast. Join us as we discuss this critical topic with our special guest, America Islas, a dedicated advocate for mental health and a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
2. Exploring Grief and Mental Health
In this episode, we listen to Jazmiera Smothers's courageous journey navigating mental health and grief. Her compassion leads us through the complex terrain of grief. Jazmiera underscores the vital significance of acknowledging and meeting the needs of our community amidst the challenges of loss.
3. Empowering Communities: The Journey of Healing and Connection through CO-PILLAR
In this episode of The Bridge, Jazmiera Smothers take the reins as guest host to guide an insightful and heartfelt conversation with Tallulah Anderson, an active participant in the CO-PILLAR study. Tallulah shares her journey through CO-PILLAR’s study stages and the four foundational pillars of health—physical, mental, spiritual, and financial. Tallulah speaks passionately about how CO-PILLAR creates a supportive network where individuals with similar experiences can have their voice heard. Tackling crucial questions in healthcare research and developing impactful resources tailored to community needs. This episode offers inspiration and insight into the impact of CO-PILLAR’s approach to patient-centered outcomes research.
To watch more videos introducing and sharing what we learned during the CO-PILLAR project, check out our playlist on YouTube.
Award Details
- Project Lead: Michelle Medeiros
- Project Budget Amount: $250,000
- Award Date: 5/17/2023
- Project Period: 18 months
- Award Category: Engagement Award Project
We propose a platform to engage local and national community members to build mental health PCOR capacity called COmmunity-Based Collaboration to Address the Pillar of Mental Health in PCOR/CER Research (CO-PILLAR). CO-PILLAR will offer training for patients, caregivers, and community representatives to talk about community mental health concerns, share promising practices in creating mental health PCOR, and how they can build the capacity to co-create mental health PCOR that addresses the 4 pillars of health (mental, physical, financial, and spiritual). We will assemble a Council of Community Partners (CCP) who will co-develop our Training Continuum and guide the recruitment of our participants. The CCP will be comprised of mental health experts such as advocates with lived mental health experience, community practitioners, and researchers. These experts will be supported by experts of the physical, financial, and spiritual pillars of health.
Objective. Create virtual, interactive capacity-building programming with community partners, especially those that are underserved, focused on the conduct of PCOR/CER projects aimed at addressing mental health and its intersection with the three other pillars of health (physical, spiritual, financial) to improve holistic health(4PH) outcomes.
Aim 1. Form a Council of Community Partners of individuals with lived experience and subject matter experts on the four pillars of health. The majority of the CCP will be mental health experts including, patient and community representatives, academic or community-based researchers, clinicians, caregivers, and others who have become mental health advocates. This core will be complemented by community representatives who are subject matter experts on the other pillars of health (physical, spiritual, financial). The role of the CCP will be to guide the work and co-develop all trainings.
Aim 2. Co-develop and deliver a virtual, tiered Training Continuum focused on established or promising, community-based capacity building practices in mental health PCOR/CER research. We aim to include over 100 individuals in the introductory tier of training and expect 50% will go on to additional training tiers, with 20% reaching the community studio tier.