Vaughan Collins, MSW – School Mental Health Assessment, Research, & Training Center

Biography
Projects
Publications

Vaughan (pronounced “vawn”) Collins joins the SMART Center after graduating with their MSW (Master of Social Work) from the University of Chicago and their BA in Psychology and Gender & Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Their deep commitments to disability justice, sex workers’ rights, and PIC (prison industrial-complex) abolition propelled them into the policy formulation and implementation side of social work through interning with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. With over 4 years of experience in psychology and human development labs, Vaughan is interested in developing research that can advance accountability, transformative justice, and community resources. Being new to Seattle, they are excited to find vegan junk food spots and get lost on public transit.

Helping Educational Leadership Mobilize Evidence (HELM): An Organizational Intervention to Promote Strategic Implementation in Schools (HELM)

The HELM project will adapt and test an existing leadership-focused implementation strategy (Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13012-014-0192-y) for use with elementary school principals in buildings where universal social, emotional, and behavioral program are being implemented. For more information about this project, click here.

The Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education (RIISE)

The University of Washington Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education (RIISE) is the first of its kind and reflects a collaborative, innovative effort to develop the implementation research workforce in education and improve educational and related outcomes. Led by a group of Core Faculty with extensive experience conducting implementation research in schools, RIISE provides training and mentorship to established education scholars (Fellows) to increase their expertise in conceptualizing, designing, and executing implementation research studies. Specifically, the RIISE training program will support Fellows in acquiring, building fluency with, and applying implementation research knowledge and skills in their education research to develop high-quality implementation studies that bridge the “last mile” in which education research fails to reach the individuals for whom it was intended. Learn more about RIISE here. A light blue book lays open with a yellow and orange sun coming out from it. “RIISE” lays on top of the sun in orange lettering with the two I’s in dark blue going up invisible steps. To the right in dark blue is “Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education.”

The Usability of Social-emotional and Behavioral Interventions: Links to Implementation and Translation to Youth Outcomes (USABILITY)

The aims of this project are to: (1) evaluate the usability of leading, evidence-based Tier 1 social-emotional and behavioral interventions (SEBI) and identify unique and common usability problems, (2) explore the links between SEBI usability and implementation and student outcomes, and (3) refine the USABILITY theory of change, develop a matrix of usability problems and redesign solutions, and articulate guidance to the field for designing usable Tier 1 SEBIs.

Centering School Leaders’ Expertise: Usability Evaluation of a Leadership-Focused Implementation Strategy to Support Tier 1 Programs in Schools(2024)School Mental Health

Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM): The iterative redesign of the Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation (LOCI) intervention for use in schools(2024)Implementation Research and Practice5:1-14.

The incremental association of implementation leadership and school personnel burnout beyond transformational leadership(2023)School PsychologyAdvance online publication: