Julie Richards, PhD, MPH

Julie Richards

“My hope is that one day patient-centered care for mental health and substance use is the norm rather than the exception.” 

Julie Angerhofer Richards, PhD, MPH

Associate Scientific Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Affiliate Assistant Professor, Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington School of Public Health

Twitter: @jangerhofer

Biography

Julie Richards, PhD, MPH, is passionate about improving care for mental health and substance use in partnership with people who provide and receive health care. She applies qualitative methods to inform what research questions we should be asking and how we should consider answering them. She employs statistical methods to inform implementation evaluations with a goal of optimizing care delivery and improving clinical practice effectiveness and patient outcomes. 

Dr. Richards recently received new grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to research firearm suicide prevention in health care systems via user-centered design and community-based participatory research. She also collaborates with multidisciplinary teams on a variety of mental health and addiction research projects, supports care delivery research partnerships, and mentors students at the University of Washington as an affiliate assistant professor.

Research interests and experience


Sparc trial tools

Resources for behavioral health integration

The SPARC trial successfully implemented behavioral health care into primary care. On our website, you can access tools for behavioral health integration, as well as frequently asked questions and publications.


Recent publications

Yarborough BJH, Stumbo SP, Schneider JL, Richards JE, Hooker SA, Rossom RC. Patient expectations of and experiences with a suicide risk identification algorithm in clinical practice. BMC Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 23;22(1):494. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-04129-1. PubMed

Frost MC, Matson TE, Richards JE, Lee AK, Achtmeyer CE, Bradley KA, Williams EC. Barriers and facilitators to changing drinking and receiving alcohol-related care: interviews with Veterans Health Administration primary care patients who indicated interest but did not enroll in an alcohol care management intervention trial. Subst Abus. 2022;43(1):1197-1206. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2022.2074602. PubMed

Simon GE, Richards JE, Boggs JM. Effect of care management or online dialectical behavior therapy skills training vs usual care on self-harm among adults with suicidal ideation-reply. JAMA. 2022 Jun 14;327(22):2246-2247. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.5883. PubMed

Frost MC, Richards JE, Blosnich JR, Hawkins EJ, Tsui JI, Edelman EJ, Williams EC. Association between clinically recognized suicidality and subsequent initiation or continuation of medications for opioid use disorder.  Drug Alcohol Depend. 2022 Aug 1;237:109521. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109521. Epub 2022 Jun 3. PubMed

Simon GE, Shortreed SM, Rossom RC, Beck A, Clarke GN, Whiteside U, Richards JE, Penfold RB, Boggs JM, Smith J. Effect of offering care management or online dialectical behavior therapy skills training vs usual care on self-harm among adult outpatients with suicidal ideation: a randomized clinical trial.  JAMA. 2022;327(7):630-638. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.0423.  PubMed

 

Research

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Suicide attempts decreased after adding suicide care to primary care

Safety planning and risk screening improved outcomes for adult patients.

Research

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Understanding adoption of Lock to Live, a decision aid supporting suicide prevention

KPWHRI research finds ways to increase use of a firearm safety tool.

News

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Kaiser Permanente expands gun violence prevention work

Equity-focused research by Julie Angerhofer Richards, PhD, MPH, is among the work supported by $3.2 million.

KPWHRI in the media

Julie Angerhofer Richards profiled for PSBJ award

She talks to suicide attempt survivors to advance prevention research

Puget Sound Business Journal, Dec. 6, 2023