2. Profile
  3. Erika Luz Gustafson

Erika Luz Gustafson PhD

Erika Luz Gustafson
Designation
  • Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
  • Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR)
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • University of Illinois Chicago
Gender Pronouns
  • she/her
Contact Information
  • gustafs6 [at] uic.edu
  • Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR)
    1747 W. Roosevelt Rd.
    Chicago IL 60612
  • Room #:251
Website

Dr. Erika Luz Gustafson is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR). Broadly, her research focuses on community-based interventions to support the mental health of families in marginalized communities impacted by disinvestment and structural inequities. She is particularly interested in how we can partner with paraprofessional workforces (i.e., community health workers (CHWs), lay providers, near peers) to expand access to contextually and culturally relevant mental health supports for communities that are underserved in standard models of mental healthcare. Her specific research interests include developing community-based, CHW-led mental health service models, and leveraging dissemination and implementation science to understand the mechanisms that contribute to the feasibility and sustainability of community-embedded services that use paraprofessional workforces. 

As a Chicana scholar and first-generation college graduate, Dr. Gustafson has a strong commitment to research that serves underrepresented communities, as well as to supporting the advancement of diverse scholars in the academy.

  • Community health workers
    Mental health equity for underserved populations
    Community-based service model development
    Community-engaged participatory research
    Dissemination and implementation science
    Social determinants of health
    Latine mental health
  • Community health worker implementation of transdiagnostic evidence-based treatment in Spanish: Advancing mental health equity for Latine parents

    This study (K08MD020100) aims to refine, implement, and evaluate the feasibility of a community health worker (CHW) delivered, transdiagnostic, evidence-based treatment (CETA: the Common Elements Treatment Approach) in Spanish with Latine parents.

  • Pre-Implementation Determinants for Community Health Worker (CHW) Delivered Evidence-based Treatment (EBT)

    Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, this mixed-methods study engages multilevel stakeholders in the Chicago Latine community, including community health workers (CHWs) and community organization leadership, to 1) measure local beliefs and attitudes toward mental health treatment and the degree to which these are compatible with a CHW model of care, and 2) prospectively evaluate individual-, intervention-, and organizational-level factors that impact intervention implementation (i.e. implementation determinants) to inform adaptation and implementation strategies for CHW-delivered EBT elements.

  • Gustafson, E.L. & Torres, S.A. (2024). Advancing community health worker models to support youth and families' mental health. Npj mental health research, 3(1), 50. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-024-00094-7

    Gustafson, E.L., Lakind, D., Walden, A.L., Rusch, D. & Atkins, M.S. (2021). Engaging parents in mental health services: A qualitative study of community health workers’ strategies in high poverty urban communities. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. doi: 10.1007/s10488-021-01124-8

    Towfighi, A., Orechwa, A., Aragón, T., Atkins, M., Brown, A.F., Brown, J., Carrasquillo, O., Carson, S. Pleisher, P., Gustafson, E., Herman, D.K., Inkela, M., Liu, W., Meeker, D., Mehta, T., Miller, D.C., Paul-Brutus, R., Potter, M.B. Ritner, S.S., Rodriguez, B., Rusch, D., Skinner, A., & Yee, H. (2020). Bridging the gap between research, policy, and practice: Lessons learned from academic-public partnerships in the CTSA network. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 4(3), 201-208. doi: 10.1017/cts.2020.23

    Shah, R., Gustafson, E.L., Dhaded, S., Herekar, V., Metgud, D. Mastiholi, S., Kim, H., & Atkins, M.S. (2020). Integrating an adapted, low-intensity program to promote early childhood development in routine health visits in rural India: A feasibility study. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 41(4), 281-288. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000763

    Shah, R., Gustafson, E.L., & Atkins, M.S. (2019). Attitudes and beliefs regarding parent-child play: A qualitative study. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 40(8), 606-612. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000708

    Rusch, D., Walden, A.L., Gustafson, E.L., Lakind, D., & Atkins, M.S. (2019). A qualitative study to explore paraprofessionals’ role in school-based prevention and early intervention mental health services. Journal of Community Psychology, 47(2), 272-290. doi: 10.1002/jcop.22120

    Gustafson, E.L., Atkins, M.S., & Rusch, D. (2018). Community health workers and social proximity: Implementation of a parenting program in urban poverty. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 449-463. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12274

    Atkins, M.S., Cappella, E., Shernoff, E.S., Mehta, T.G., & Gustafson, E.L. (2017). School mental health: Realigning resources to reduce disparities and advance public health. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 13, 123-147. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045234

Title Description Investigator(s) Category Status
Building multi-level support for recreational staff members to infuse mental health promotion into everyday practices This project is a collaboration with Urban Initiatives, a citywide non-profit foundation that utilizes soccer and active play to promote youth physical and mental health in resource-scarce neighborhoods.  The project employs an iterative collaborative approach to enhance the organizational capacity of UI to impact youth physical and mental health by strengthening their workforce dev ACCESS for Mental Health On-going
Building multi-level support for recreational staff members to infuse mental health promotion into everyday practices This project is a collaboration with Urban Initiatives, a citywide non-profit foundation that utilizes soccer and active play to promote youth physical and mental health in resource-scarce neighborhoods.  The project employs an iterative collaborative approach to enhance the organizational capacity of UI to impact youth physical and mental health by strengthening their workforce development pra Community Based Children and Family Mental Health Services Research Program On-going
Partners Achieving School Success (PASS) PASS was a school based mental health prevention and early intervention program for children in pre-kindergarten through third grade.  Our team collaborated with four social service agencies on a school-based prevention and early intervention program for youth in K-3rd grade living in impoverished communities in Chicago (approximately n=700). Community Based Children and Family Mental Health Services Research Program Completed

*System-generated list from psychiatry research website.