Increasing Access to Data-Driven Decision-Making
At Wildwood Institute, our mission is to address the challenges of injury, violence, and mental health by creating, applying, and evaluating community-based interventions. We believe in making expertise accessible, offering consulting services ranging from pro bono to multi-year contracts that enable’ state and local governments and organizations to make strategic, data-driven decisions.
Background
The Wildwood Institute, a public health consulting firm, was founded in 2022 by Dr. Laura Schwab-Reese. Academia can be bureaucratic, and university contracting may take as longer than the allotted project timeline. Dr. Schwab-Reese needed a way to be nimble when a timely response is important. Through The Wildwood Institute, communities and organizations have access to expertise in days, not months.
Overall, our expertise focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating community-engaged interventions. We have successfully handled projects of various scales, from small feasibility studies to extensive national randomized control studies. Our proficiency encompasses all stages of intervention development and evaluation, assuring you have top-tier expertise at every step of your project’s journey.
We understand the budget constraints that many organizations, including state and local governments, often face. Recognizing this, we offer brief pro bono consultancy, in addition to more traditional paid partnerships. This approach ensures our expertise is accessible to those who need it most.
Consider this an open invitation to leverage Dr. Schwab-Reese’s knowledge and experience. Let’s collaboratively work towards making our communities safer, healthier, and more resilient.
Recent Projects
Empathy in Sobriety: Enhancing Healthcare Providers’ Approach to Recovery Support
This project, initiated by the Indiana Department of Health in collaboration with The Wildwood Institute, delves into the pivotal role healthcare providers play in a person’s journey to sobriety. Recognizing the discouragement many people experience due to their providers’ responses, the project employed focus groups to gather firsthand experiences from people in recovery. Analyzing these personal journeys, Dr. Schwab-Reese created a comprehensive set of guidelines to help healthcare providers become more accepting and approachable, facilitating a more supportive environment for those on the path to sobriety.
Increasing Child Maltreatment Education and Awareness through Theatre
The Wildwood Institute is currently collaborating with the Transform Research Center and Houses on the Moon to create a theatre production for middle and high school students that focuses on child maltreatment. Drawing on 10 years of experience studying children’s help-seeking behaviors, Dr. Schwab-Reese is providing guidance on language and storylines that resonate with young people’s lived experiences.
Evaluating an ECHO Model for Injury and Violence Prevention Professionals
The ECHO Model fosters a virtual community where participants share support, guidance, and feedback with their peers. By discussing real (anonymized) cases, professionals learn to adapt high-level best practices into local action. The Wildwood Institute partnered with Safe States to develop an evaluation plan for an upcoming ECHO focused on training injury and violence prevention professionals to reduce health disparities. Since ECHO sessions may evolve as the training progresses, we designed an innovative evaluation that is responsive to the facilitators’ changing needs.
Interested in data-driven decision-making? Let’s chat!
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