Elizabeth H Connors, PhD

Elizabeth Connors, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology) and in the Child Study Center. She directs the Partnerships for Research and Implementation in School Mental Health (PRISM) team in the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Prevention and Community Research. Dr. Connors’ program of research focuses on the implementation of evidence-based behavioral health promotion, prevention, early intervention, and treatment services for children, adolescents, and their families. Dr. Connors specializes in the selection and application of implementation science frameworks, methods, and strategies to promote quality improvement and sustained change in practices in under-resourced mental health care access points for children and adolescents such as schools and community settings. To do this, the PRISM team partners with state mental health and education leaders, policy makers, school administrators, health and mental health professionals, and teachers in Connecticut and across the United States. The PRISM team promotes the national Comprehensive School Mental Health System (CSMHS) model which includes multi-tiered systems of support for social, emotional, and behavioral health inclusive of substance use risks, protective factors, effective treatment models and implementation approaches. Dr. Connors currently studies evidence-based practices such as 1) measurement-based care to drive person-centered, data-driven treatment; and 2) trauma-informed strategies for students and school staff to promote resilience from chronic stress and adversity. As a child-clinical and community psychologist, Dr. Connors uses participatory methods and is dedicated to community partnered and stakeholder informed research built on the foundation of university-school-family-community partnerships. Potential opportunities for fellows may include leading and/or supporting research and scholarship on measurement-based care in substance use treatment for adolescents; school-partnered development, adaptation, and/or implementation research on substance use prevention programs in K-12 public schools; secondary data analysis on the current reach and effectiveness of substance use prevention and intervention programming in public schools nationwide; policy review and recommendations for promoting substance use prevention, early intervention, and treatment in schools; qualitative inquiry exploring barriers and facilitators of integrating substance use programming in school mental health.