Mission of The Penn Collaborative

  1. Raising the standard of care for people in under-resourced communities, who often have the greatest need for, but limited access to, evidence-based practices (EBPs);
  2. Fostering a shared understanding of people seeking services as individuals who have the right and the ability to live full, meaningful lives;
  3. Empowering community mental health providers to adopt flexible, evidence-based practices and tools, strengthening their ability to effectively help people move toward personalized goals;
  4. Partnering with providers to infuse Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and other EBPs into a sustained, programmatic approach, rather than disparate staff who are silos of their own expertise; and
  5. Advancing the science of implementation based on research and program evaluation. 

The Penn Collaborative began with one project, the Beck Community Initiative, which was a vision shared by Dr. Aaron Beck, the Father of Cognitive Therapy, and Dr. Arthur Evans, Former Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbilities Services. Together, they imagined a partnership that would move CBT out of the research labs and into the real-world, increasing access to this evidence-based practice for all.  Since the BCI was created in 2007, there has been an increase in demands for trainings worldwide in addition to research projects that have been funded which all helped to form the Penn Collaborative. There are numerous projects (including the BCI) that fall under the the Penn Collaborative and are led by the director, Torrey A. Creed, Ph.D.


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