Tara Mehta, PhD
Consultant
Community Engagement and Collaboration Core
Contact
Building & Room:
Institute for Juvenile Research
Address:
1747 Roosevelt Rd
Office Phone:
Email:
CV Link:
About
Dr. Mehta is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Juvenile Research in the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Director of Psychology Training. Dr. Mehta has a longstanding interest in the implementation and dissemination of alternative models of community mental health practice to support positive youth development. Her research focuses on the development and implementation of organizational structures that promote the sustainability of effective services in community settings (e.g., professional learning communities and leveraging workplace-based support) and social network mechanisms related to implementation and sustainability of effective practices in community settings. She has worked closely with the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Park District and collaborated with key policy stakeholders in Illinois, including the Illinois Department of Mental Health Evidence Informed Training Initiative and the Illinois Department of Mental Health Evidence Informed Practice Board to advise on the scaling-up of evidence based practices in community mental health settings. Currently, Dr. Mehta is collaborating with Urban Initiatives, a non-profit foundation that utilizes active play as a context to promote physical and mental health for children, to design and test an organizational infrastructure to enhance staff capacity to promote mental health in recreational settings.