Our History
bridge dissemination was originally conceived by Matthew Boland (a.k.a. “Dr. Matt B”) in 2018 while in a postdoctoral research position at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
Dr. Matt B noticed so many exciting and important research studies being conducted in that setting. Many of those researchers designing and conducting mental health studies are some of the smartest and hardest working individuals in our society. They often use hard-won grant funding and sacrifice much “richer” careers to dedicate their lives to help humanity.
Many of these studies would be incredibly helpful for clinicians to help make treatment decisions or give informative background information on important difficulties encountered with clients. But as both a researcher and an experienced clinician, Dr. Matt B also realized most of these and other studies in mental health usually will not be seen by clinicians who could use them for client benefit. Clinicians usually do not hear about information learned from these studies for periods of decades or ever.
He resolved to create methods to bridge this gap between mental health research and practice. The goal: to help clinicians get the highest quality information to help their clients. bridge dissemination was created to do just that. So many great clinicians and researchers have joined our efforts. We’re excited to continue to build a great community!
Our Mission
bridge’s mission is therefore two-fold:
- To provide easily-digestible information about high quality research to clinicians working in mental health. This information is to be provided in a way that is simple and easy to access. It can help clinicians provide highly informed and effective care to those we serve.
- To make dissemination an established and functioning industrial wing of the mental health field. That is, to make dissemination “a thing” in psychology and mental health treatment to help increase the effectiveness of our work overall.
As clinicians, we all work hard to help our clients learn ways to help themselves. Let’s grab the most rigorously uncovered information that’s out there to help make us the most helpful we can be!