Annual report for fiscal year 2017 from the Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center (SPARC).

We are grateful to the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) for its continued support of the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s (UMMS) DMH Research Center of Excellence, the Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center (SPARC). We continue to leverage the DMH investment to support innovative, recovery-oriented, state-of-the-art psychosocial and systems research.

The Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center conducts research to enhance services, improve the quality of life, and promote recovery for people with behavioral health conditions. Our research involves, informs, and advises individuals with lived experience, their families, providers, administrators and policymakers navigating the behavioral health landscape in the Commonwealth and beyond. SPARC was created in 1993 when it was designated a Center of Excellence for Psychosocial and Systems Research by the Massachusetts DMH.

Our mission mirrors the DMH commitment to collaborating with other state agencies, individuals with lived mental health experience, families, advocates, providers, and communities. DMH and SPARC are aligned in their vision of promoting mental health through early intervention, treatment, education, policy, and regulation to provide opportunities for citizens of the Commonwealth to live full and productive lives.