Funding research that saves lives.
The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation is committed to investing in depression research. With the help of our fantastic donors, we’ve invested more than a half million dollars to depression research at esteemed North Texas institutions such as UT Southwestern, JPS Behavioral Health, Texas Christian University, and the UNTHSC School of Medicine.
For 2024, The Foundation is funding Dr. Craig Bryan of Ohio State University to further study on direct interventions for suicidal indivudals. His work has demonstrated the effectiveness of brief cognitive behavioral therapy for suicide prevention (BCBT) and crisis response planning (CRP), two interventions that reduce suicide attempts by 60% or more as compared to traditional mental health treatments.
If proven, Dr. Bryan's work may reduce the amount of time needed to treat an individual by 65%, freeing up limited resources to have more impact.
Our involvement with the Better Tools! Project at JPS Behavioral Health provided research funding to this patient-focused predictive analytics project that can determine suicide risk factors in a patient’s electronic health record, allowing additional preventative care measures for mental health professionals in the fight against suicide.
Another example of our involvement is with a powerful study at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Research conducted at the UT Southwestern Peter O’Donnell Jr Brain Institute in Dallas showed that the drug ketamine is a plausible means for treating depression, especially to immediately stabilize patients. Within this study, featured in Nature, scientists identified a protein that assisted the drug in rapidly causing antidepressant effects in brains. This will help researchers develop new, safer treatments that cause this effect as an alternative to ketamine.