Learning Clusters

NNED Learning Clusters consist of small groups of CEBONS and KDCs that come together around a shared priority issue.  Best practices and evidence-based strategies and programs that emerge from these consultative sessions and follow-up discussions are developed into products that can be tested in research models and disseminated with TA throughout the NNED. 

Purpose of NNED Learning Clusters 

  • Foster new collaborative partnerships to grow and spread these pockets of excellence
  • Coordinate the sharing, training and TA of cultural, indigenous, and community-based best practices
  • Create linkages between community providers and organizations in diverse communities and research/training centers to share knowledge, expertise, and skills

Current Learning Clusters

The NNED provides the administrative support and a technology platform for the Learning Cluster to convene regularly, work on a shared product, or provide peer technical assistance around a particular practice, program or initiative.  The NNED currently facilitates the following learning clusters:

  • Public Education Campaigns on Prevention of Underage Drinking : This learning cluster will produce culturally informed and accessible targeted messages with the Ad Council that are developed by and geared to American Indians, Hispanics, African Americans and Asian/Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Products from this Learning Cluster will be disseminated throughout the NNED for use in their respective communities.
  • Community-Defined Evidence Project (CDEP) : This learning cluster consists of a group of community-based mental health and substance abuse providers serving primarily Latino communities, Latino consumers, and university-based researchers working collaboratively to develop a framework for “community-defined evidence” that enhances traditional and nontraditional methodologies for measuring the effectiveness of practices and programs for Latinos.
  • Implementing the SBIRT Model in Community Health Centers : The goal of this learning cluster is to implement the screening, brief interview, referral, and treatment (SBIRT) model for substance use and abuse within community health centers that serve diverse populations.  This model allows community health centers to identify individuals with substance-abuse related problems or individuals who are at risk for substance-abuse related problems, thereby more effectively addressing health disparities with a focus on prevention.

  • Best Practices for Pacific Island and Native American Indigenous Communities : This learning cluster will convene ten Pacific Islander and ten Native American communities to share best practices for their populations along the public health continuum from awareness, outreach and engagement through recovery services and supports for people with mental health, substance abuse and co-occurring problems.
  • Integration of Behavioral Health and Primary Care : This learning cluster will develop a compendium/toolkit of systematic strategies for integrating behavioral health and primary care for diverse communities (e.g., funding, legislation, training, payor and reimbursement, models of collaboration, health information technology and EHRS, etc.).  Community-research partnerships will be developed to evaluate promising approaches for diverse communities.
  • Linking Faith-Based Institutions and Behavioral Health : This learning cluster will work to build partnerships between faith based and healthcare organizations. The group will disseminate information on best practice models for faith based/healthcare collaborations from a community based participatory approach.
  • Advocacy and Community Engagement: The purpose of this learning cluster is to build on the experiences and expertise of community leaders and groups in multicultural communities who have been successful in advocating for greater awareness of disparities and subsequent policy and practice changes in behavioral health and related systems.

 


For additional information about future learning clusters, please email info@nned.net