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REACH4MHE

About the Project

The Researching Ethics and Assessment of Unintended Consequences in Healthcare for MHE (REACH4MHE) project is a core initiative of the Mental Health, Earlier (MHE) Center that leverages the pre-mortem method to identify and reduce unintended consequences that could arise during the implementation of mental health interventions. The MHE Center has the potential to improve outcomes for children and families through the implementation of the DECIDE Tool and Family Check-Up (FCU) Online. However, unintended consequences, like increased stigma for minoritized groups or isolation due to inadequate treatment, could undermine these benefits. REACH4MHE helps ensure that these interventions are fair, ethical, and effective for all children and families by leading pre-mortem workshops, which anticipate and mitigate unintended consequences before they occur.

A pre-mortem is a structured brainstorming exercise that uses prospective hindsight. Participants (e.g., researchers, clinicians, and caregivers) imagine that a project has failed and ask, “What went wrong and why?” This forward-looking approach helps identify risks that might otherwise go unnoticed until it’s too late. During these sessions, participants envision a scenario where MHE Center interventions have failed to fairly and equally benefit all children and families, healthcare providers, and clinics. They generate ideas about potential risks from unintended consequences and solutions to avoid or minimize risks and maximize benefits. The REACH4MHE team then compiles these insights into a roadmap of priority concerns and solutions (i.e., implementation strategies). We also develop monitoring approaches to track whether unintended consequences emerge during the research, so strategies can be adapted to address concerns as needed.

Instead of waiting until the end of a project to evaluate success or failures of ethical implementation of the intervention, REACH4MHE acts proactively and leverages the power of prospective hindsight. Our findings about unintended consequences and implementation strategies can guide each stage of the MHE projects. By integrating implementation science and ethical frameworks to extend previous pre-mortem methods, we create a rigorous, replicable methodology that can inform future research. 

REACH4MHE Team

Rinad Beidas(she/her/hers)

Project Co-Lead

Rinad S. Beidas, PhD, is Chair of the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, where she also serves as a professor and national leader in improving mental and physical health care. She has led numerous large‑scale research projects focused on making health care better, fairer, and easier for all people to access. At the Center, she serves as a Project Co-Lead for REACH4MHE, helping guide efforts to find practical ways to bring the best science into everyday care, especially for young people and families who need support. She is motivated by partnering with clinicians, leaders, and families to close the gap between what we know works and what actually happens in clinics, schools, and communities, making high-quality, effective care easier to deliver and more accessible so that children and parents can thrive.

Seema Shah(she/her/hers)

Project Co-Lead

Seema K. Shah, JD, HEC-C,  is a Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University's Feinburg School of Medical School and the Founder’s Board Professor of Medical Ethics at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where she directs a program on Pediatric Research and Policy (PREP). Professor Shah’s work focuses on ensuring that research with children is ethically sound. As Project Co-Lead for REACH4MHE, she is excited to be working at the cutting edge of learning how to implement early mental health care for children ethically.

Callie Walsh-Bailey(she/her/hers)

Co-Investigator

Callie Walsh-Bailey, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Medical Social Sciences trained as a public health scientist with expertise in implementation science. She has been involved in implementation research since 2016 and has collaborated on a wide array of studies spanning multiple health conditions, settings, and populations. As a team scientist, she deploys qualitative and mixed methods approaches to assess implementation contexts, develop and tailor implementation plans, and assess outcomes of implementation efforts. As a methodologist, she develops, tests, and applies tools and methods that help research teams engage collaborators in planning and carrying out fair and ethical implementation projects that promote health for all. She is a Co-Investigator for the REACH4MHE project.  

John Walkup(he/him/his)

Co-Investigator

John Walkup, MD, is Chair of the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and Margaret C. Osterman Board Designated Professor in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Lurie Children’s Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In his role at LCH, Dr. Walkup has developed, with Co-Investigator Davis, a comprehensive integrated care program that trains pediatricians, pediatric residents and pediatric subspecialists in the screening, assessment and initial treatment of the major childhood onset psychiatric disorders. He has also forged ties with the Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences (DevSci) to accelerate the expansion of our collaborative care model to early development with a greater prevention and preemption focus. He is a Co-Investigator for the REACH4MHE project

Gabby Olson(she/her/hers)

Senior Research Study Coordinator

Gabby Olson, BA, is a Senior Research Study Coordinator on the Ideas to Implementation Team in the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University.  She graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Psychology and Linguistics and a minor in French and has experience working in labs studying neurodevelopmental, anxiety, and psychosis risk disorders in children, adolescents, and young adults. She looks forward to supporting the mission of the MHE Center by ensuring that effective mental health interventions are implemented to improve psychological outcomes for all children and families. 

Ava Jurden, MA(she/her/hers)

Research Program Manager

Ava Jurden, MA, is the Research Program Manager of the Pediatric Research Ethics and Policy (PREP) Program in the Smith Child Health Outcomes, Research, and Evaluation Center at Lurie Children’s Hospital. She brings extensive experience in research coordination, data analysis, and policy evaluation from her previous roles at the Erikson Institute, the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab, and the University of Denver Child Health and Development Lab. Ava is passionate about leveraging pediatric research and policy to drive meaningful improvements in child health and well-being for all.