Larry Davidson, PhD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, was awarded the 2014 Alexander Gralnick Research Investigator Prize at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association.
The Gralnick Prize is given bi-annually by the American Psychological Foundation to recognize "exceptional research and mentoring accomplishments in the area of serious mental illness."
Nine faculty members from the Yale Department of Psychiatry, whom Dr. Davidson has mentored over the last two decades, nominated him for the award. "Their nominations make this prize a special honor," notes Davidson.
Dr. Davidson, an expert on the interface of recovery from mental health and substance use disorders with membership in society, has conducted groundbreaking research on the valuable roles that persons with serious mental illness and addictions can play in transforming behavioral health care. In addition to his ongoing research and mentoring, he is active in policy making as well and currently serves as senior policy advisor for the Connecticut Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services.
Dr. Davidson will use funds from the Gralnick Prize to launch a pilot project to study the effects of having people in recovery trained and hired to serve as consultants to doctoral psychology fellows working at Connecticut Mental Health Center. Consultants will use their own personal life experiences, in combination with their training, to enrich the fellows' educational experience by helping them appreciate how recovery evolves through incremental steps in a person's daily life, much of which unfolds outside of the clinic or hospital.