Course Structure and Objectives

This course meets once per week for 2 hours, consisting of 2 lectures. One of the lectures is devoted to a clinical discussion to provide background and motivation, describing a specific aspect of psychology or psychiatry, current approaches to treatment, and current challenges in mental health practice. The lecture is generally devoted to relevant technologies that address certain clinical needs and are being developed for assessment, monitoring, and intervention.

Coursework and Design Exercises: This class has no exams, but there will be significant weekly reading assignments, as well as a weekly written asignment based on the readings. Over the course of the semester, there are three separate design exercises in which students shall work in small teams to create and present concepts for addressing specific needs in mental health and wellness. These design projects shall be presented in the form of a poster, a physical mock-up, or a software demonstration, as part of an interactive class poster/demo session. (the exact format will depend on the number of students in the class).

Graduate credit: Students seeking graduate credit will be required to complete additional homework essay questions are part of the weekly assignment.

Grading: Grading is based on the design exercises, weekly written assignments, attendence, and class participation.

Instructors

Rich Fletcher: Dr. Fletcher is a research scientist at MIT and research faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry. At MIT, Dr. Fletcher leads the Mobile Technology Lab in the Mechanical Engineering Department, and has been working on mental health technologies for over 15 years, including 2 patents in this area as well as over 15 patents in the area of wireless sensors. Dr. Fletcher earned 4 degrees from MIT (S.B. Physics, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology M.S. and PhD) and has founded four start-up companies over the years, in the area of wireless sensors and mobile health. Dr. Fletcher has led technology development for several NIH-funded studies in the areas of mental health, drug addiction, and behavior medicine.

Karin Hodges Dr. Hodges is a Licensed Psychologist and clinical researcher who specializes in treating mental illness and fostering mental wellness in children. She practices in Concord, MA. Dr. Hodges received education and training from UCLA, Antioch University, New England (AUNE), Dartmouth Medical Center, and Franciscan Hospital for Children, and she has also trained and worked in various elementary and middle schools and mental health clinics throughout New England, including in Roxbury, MA; Dorchester, MA; Ashfield, MA; Brookline, MA; as well as in Keene, NH. Dr. Hodges has taught courses in psychology at AUNE, including Tests and Measurements; Interventions; and Group Interventions.

Guest Lectures This course will feature several invited lectures by clinicians and scientists from Harvard Medical School, Mass General Hospital, and MIT.

Sponsors

We would like to thank the MIT J-WELL program for providing the initial grant support to make this class possible.