This Institute, with others, creates opportunities that will improve the quality of life for people with disabilities and behavioral challenges and their families
Overview
The David Ralston Institute for Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities advances the understanding of the abilities of all people through education, research, and public service. The Institute's interdisciplinary faculty and staff generate, disseminate, and evaluate applied research while training future professionals for careers in the behavioral health and developmental disabilities fields.
Mission
The Institute combines the long-standing work of the Institute on Human Development and Disability, which has 50+ years of continuous funding and programming, with the newly established, state-funded initiative focused on behavioral health to address Georgia's addiction and mental workforce crisis.
The Ralston Institute advances the understanding of the abilities of all people through education, research, and public service. The institute works with a variety of stakeholders to create opportunities that will improve the quality of life for people with behavioral health challenges and individuals with disabilities and their families.
Building workforce connections
Georgia is experiencing a significant healthcare workforce crisis, particularly in areas of mental health, behavioral health, and those working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Millions of people throughout the state lack access to providers. The lack of access to treatment is worse in rural areas. As the existing workforce nears retirement age, it is imperative that new professionals are trained to replace them. The Ralston Institute seeks to fill this need by training the next generation of healthcare providers in behavioral and mental health and intellectual disabilities fields, and will focus on serving as a hub for internships, mentorship, and partnerships with hiring agencies and employment.
Analyzing gaps
- Employment gaps within the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) system
- Career preparation of degree-seeking students
- State-identified critical competencies not addressed
- Career paths for staff at a variety of levels.
Creating meaningful student experiences
- Interdisciplinary
- Active learning environments
- Evidence-based practices
- Competency-based curricula
- Certificates
- Mental Health First Aid infusion and other science-based programming
- Continuing education for direct service providers of individuals with disabilities and with behavioral health challenges
- Interprofessional education across different disciplines
Engaging in cutting-edge research
- Basic/applied science
- Qualitative and mixed methods
- Partnering with the Georgia Clinical Translational Science Alliance
- Needs assessments
- Program evaluation
Strengthening public service and outreach
- Disseminate research and best practices
- Liaise with the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska and Council of State Governments Justice Center networks across the country
- The Institute will include a clearinghouse focused on the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice
- Be a resource to Georgia and a national leader in sharing resources and model programs
Institute outcomes
Supporting graduates to move into critical positions
The Institute:
- Works across disciplines and units to increase the pipeline of high-quality graduates and others credentialed with urgently needed skills and who seek employment in Georgia's behavioral health and developmental disability service systems.
- Develops and implements creative solutions to address the direct care workforce crisis, centered around the belief that individuals in these systems have inherent value.
- Provides evidence-based best practices and training to current professionals and paraprofessionals working in Georgia's service systems.
Clearinghouse
The clearinghouse focuses on the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice in collaboration with the Division of Justice and Behavioral Health Initiatives of the Council of State Governments. The clearinghouse was championed by then-Chief Justice Shane Boggs of the Georgia Supreme Court and is designed to:
- Provide state, regional and community policymakers with the data needed to make empirically-sound decisions and to engage in planning and policy development.
- Provide professionals across agencies and organizations and citizens with data to help them better understand behavioral health/criminal justice issues impacting their communities.
- Be a repository for best practice recommendations, reports, research and policy and planning documents, leading to enhanced screening, diversion and higher quality services.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of targeted interventions/programs in meeting their desired outcomes.
- Provide training and technical assistance to local communities and develop model programs.
- Actively involve end users in all phases of development, implementation and evaluation.
Timeline
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The River’s Crossing building, built with federal funds, opens its doors in September. The Athens Unit of the Georgia Retardation Center, later to become the Institute on Human Development and Disability, provides:
Classroom education for children with disabilities from 28 northeast Georgia counties. Three classrooms are administered by FACS and five by the UGA College of Education.
Overnight accommodations for children who live too far away to commute daily to school.
Internship and practicum opportunities for UGA students from 14 disciplines representing five UGA schools and colleges.
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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act becomes law, mandating federal agencies and agencies receiving any federal funds to not discriminate on the basis of disability.
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The Education for Handicapped Children Act (renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, in 1990) guarantees a free, appropriate public education for all children with disabilities. IHDD served preschoolers from its inception. In 1975, a mobile unit provides diagnostic and educational services for young children living in rural areas.
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Georgia’s first in-home intervention program for families of infants with disabilities is established.
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IHDD conducts a needs assessment in six Georgia counties focused on aging people with disabilities. It is the first effort in Georgia to understand the service needs of an aging population. In the 1980s and 1990s, IHDD uses the arts to include seniors with lifelong disabilities in senior centers and builds collaboration between Georgia’s aging and disability service networks.
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Parent Helpers is established as the first Georgia program offering peer support to families of newly diagnosed children with disabilities. The program merges with Parent to Parent of Georgia in 1982. IHDD disseminates the model nationally in 1984 and internationally through the Air Force in 1986. Also, IHDD hosts the regional activities of Marc Gold, whose innovative training strategies demonstrate that individuals with the most significant disabilities can be employed.
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IHDD begins to include children with disabilities at the Child Development Lab at the McPhaul Center, culminating in 1985 with the establishment of one of the state’s first inclusive preschool programs.
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The Americans with Disabilities Act becomes law, a far-reaching law providing civil rights protections to people with disabilities.
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The IHDD Consumer Advisory Council holds its first meeting. Also, the Georgia Personal Assistance Corps, one of the first AmeriCorps projects, is funded as one of three corps actively recruiting people with disabilities to provide service to their communities. In 2001, Everyone Can Serve disseminates the inclusive service model nationally.
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River’s Crossing becomes the first Georgia institution for individuals with disabilities to close; students who moved to the community are followed for 10 years by IHDD researchers, with very positive outcomes documented.
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IHDD officially becomes an institute.
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the landmark Olmstead case that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, isolating people with disabilities in segregated residential institutions constitutes discrimination based on disability. The case, which originates in Georgia, is a major victory for disabilities rights advocates. IHDD becomes the primary supporter of People First of Georgia, a self- advocacy network, and takes responsibility for assisting self-advocates in coordinating the next 11 annual statewide People First conferences.
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IHDD supports Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson, the plaintiffs in the Olmstead case, to develop small businesses: Lois as a folk artist and Elaine as a public speaker.
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The first IHDD classes are offered at UGA.
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The Children’s Freedom Initiative is formed. CFI is a collaborative effort to ensure that children who live in facilities are given the chance to live with permanent, loving families. Also, FarmAgain’s AgrAbility project is funded. It is designed to assist farmers and other agricultural workers with disabilities and chronic health conditions with assistive technology solutions.
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Graduate and undergraduate Disability Studies Certificate programs are approved. The first three students graduate with Disability Studies Certificates in 2008.
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IHDD, the UGA Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries and the Shepherd Center in Atlanta found the Georgia Disability History Alliance to preserve the state’s disability history. GDHA sponsors an annual Disability History Symposium.
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The Destination Dawgs program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities is launched. The first cohort of five students receive a Certificate in College and Career Readiness and the group is recognized at both FACS Convocation and UGA Commencement in May 2019. More than 80 UGA students have served as peer mentors since spring semester 2019.
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IHDD turns 50.
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Kevin Tanner (left), now commissioner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, chairs the Georgia Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation committee that provides recommendations that led to the passing of House Bill 1013 in 2022. The bill addressed systemic barriers to the quality and delivery of behavioral health services and required insurance companies to cover mental health and substance abuse issues as they would physical illnesses.
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The Georgia Legislature passes a bill that covers tuition for students in IPSE programs, similar to the HOPE Scholarship program. Destination Dawgs student Ben Harrison and director Lisa Ulmer attend the signing ceremony with local representative Houston Gaines, an early advocate of the program going back to his time as president of the UGA Student Government Association. They are shown here with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and his wife, Marty.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signs the Georgia as Model Employer (GAME) legislation into law. GAME was created to increase the recruitment, hiring, promotion and retention of individuals with disabilities within state of Georgia employment. Shown here are IHDD's Doug Crandell, a Public Service Faculty and Director of the Advancing Employment project, Charlotte Densmore and D’Arcy Robb from the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities and Senator Billy Hickman, who carried the bill.
In 2025, the Georgia Dignity and Pay Act (SB 55) mandates that employers in Georgia pay individuals with disabilities the full minimum wage, eliminating the practice of paying subminimum wages. IHDD's Doug Crandell is a major champion of the legislation.
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The Georgia General Assembly allocates $1.5 million for the establishment of the David Ralston Center for Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to prepare future professionals for careers in the behavioral health and developmental and intellectual disabilities fields with the goal of creating a pipeline to provide a community-based system of care.
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The university formally dedicates the Ralston Center for Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, to be housed in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences.
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A master’s program in Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) is approved by the University System of Georgia, designed to train future clinicians to address the growing mental healthcare provider crisis. The program is housed in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences.
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UGA formally renames the Center the David Ralston Institute for Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities within the University system framework. The College of Family and Consumer Sciences launches a search for an executive director.
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The College of Family and Consumer Sciences begins recruitment and hiring of key subject-matter experts and executive staff for the Ralston Institute.
FACS begins creating messaging for bachelor's-level students in Psychology, Social Work, and Human Development and Family Science to share career pathways in the behavioral health field.
The Ralston Institute joins a national alliance of university Centers of Excellence focused on advancing the behavioral health workforce.
