Focus groups planned! Consultants on board!

Sept 13, 2016

Dear wonderful supporters,

We are happy to share with you an update on our study progress. The summer has been a busy time of planning and as a result, the fall will be a time of “doing.”

In early August, we had the pleasure of attending the 23rd Mental Health Services Research Conference, sponsored by NIH, where we presented a poster (please see attachment below) on the current results of the Gould Farm outcomes research and had some very fruitful conversations with other mental health researchers.

From conversations at the conference, we have located some great consultants in contemporary recovery research.  They are at the Center for Psychosocial Rehabilitation at Boston University, a leading center for mental health recovery research. They are familiar with the Gould Farm program and happy to help us; we have already had an initial conversation with them that will be very useful in designing and running the focus groups.  Future consultations with them about state-of-the-art procedures and measures will follow this fall.

Second, we are finalizing some dates in September and October for initial focus groups of family members, guests, and former guests. Some will take place at the Farm in Monterey and others at Fellside, Gould Farm’s transition program in Boston. Also, at the fall “Friends and Family Weekend” at Gould Farm Monterey, we will share the outcome study findings with family members and seek input and ideas from their perspective.

A special invitation: For any of our supporters reading this who are family members or former guests – we would highly value your input for the focus group discussions and would love to include you, either in small focus groups at the Farm or in individual conversations via Skype or phone if you prefer. So, this is a warm invitation to email me directly anytime (lheather@williams.edu)  so that we know who you are and can make sure to include you.

And, to everyone, thank you once again for your generous support and ongoing interest in this project. We look forward to keeping you posted on our progress!

Sincerely,

Laurie (Heatherington) and Ellen (Finch)