Power Redistribution and Upending White Supremacy in Implementation Research and Practice in Community Mental Health
Amanda L. Sanchez, Lauren Cliggitt, Natalie Dallard, Deborah Irby, Mikaila Harper, Emily Schaffer, Meghan B. Lane‐Fall, Rinad S. Beidas
Abstract
This Open Forum explores how implementation research and practice may sustain White supremacist ideas, perpetuate unequal power dynamics, and maintain mental health care inequities. The following questions were considered: What information is valued and considered evidence? and How do power differentials within implementation research and practice manifest? The implementation of evidence-based interventions within community mental health clinics is used as an example to explore these questions. Recommendations are provided to envision a future that centers collaboratively developed and community-led approaches to foster equity in mental health care.