ABS Community Research, Inc.

ABS Community Research, Inc was founded in 2001 by Velma Anne Ruth, M.Ed. following recommendations from criminal justice and mental health advisers in 2000.

Founding research began in 1999, with dual track project: to establish a scientific method for psychology, and discover a mental disorder defining the criminal mind. Velma engaged advisory support of mental health and criminal justice among local, state, national and international leadership.  By 2000, both sets of principles were established as a Psychological Science (then named "Developmental Life Skills") and Abusive Behavioral Syndrome. Models were developed in the field, for use in community partnerships between mental health, social service, education, and community justice. 

ABS Community Research, Inc. was founded in 2001 to continue research on the definitive applicability of Psychological Science to all mental health populations, applicability of Abusive Behavioral Syndrome to justice populations, and innovate programming through certification, professional networking, and collaboration with local initiatives in each field. As mental illness and public safety is a community issue, the arts were involved as a means to develop awareness and encourage others to engage in related causes.

Funding for community justice programs such as drug courts and domestic violence courts declined after 9/11, and philanthropic opportunities were fundamentally limited to given populations. Upon founding, ABS committed to serving each population and professional field equally; however funding limitations restricted the organization from engaging clinical research and program development. Through volunteerism, ABS continued research through observing specialized court programs, classification development, integrating accepted principles per population and field, as an alternative to clinical work with human subjects and community programs. The long-term plan shifted, as human subject investigation and program innovation became a final phase to follow modeling, instead of an initial phase. 

In 2002, American Psychiatric Association suggested Abusive Behavioral Syndrome could lead its own category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM). The criminal psychology innovation enables criminal justice to advance partnerships to a clinical level of shared language.

In 2003, World Health Organization suggested Psychological Science (DLS) could benefit the global mental health community in psychiatric classifications.  The psychological innovation enables health insurance to develop mental health insurance, while building outcomes measures closer to medical equivalents. Both innovations required greater work in policy and finance to determine best practices for consumers, public safety, and administrators.

Up through 2004, ABS was collaborating with a mental health program within a correctional facility in Iran to support violence reduction and restoration of families in the region. During 2004, through unfortunate threats by the Islamic Republic against Iranian citizens talking to Americans, communications with this program ceased. ABS Community Research, Inc has ongoing interests to be involved with this program when public safety allows; and hopes that organization findings continue to be a support to community restoration.

In order to manage policy, financial, and operational implications, ABS embarked on a third classification development initiative: Global H Codes (GHC). Between 2004 and 2006, the founder established a new set of models to align administrative procedures, consumer protections, and information technology.  Between 2006 and 2008, the founder established related classifications and methods for nonprofit finance and government partnerships. By 2008, Global H Codes (GHC) became a new model for nonprofit finance, programming and stakeholder relations, to strengthen nonprofit accounting, economics, market analytics, and information technology.

Beginning in 2008, ABS Community Research, Inc started collaborating with national and global leadership regarding the implications of Global H Codes in advancing economic classifications. By the end of 2009, collaborations resulted in additional potential advancements also for nonprofit/public accounting standards. Given the intensive nature of economic classification, financial technology, and accounting standards innovation, in 2010 ABS Community Research, Inc moved this initiative to a separate for-profit Independent Review, Inc. By segmenting administrative innovations to a private entity, the advancements are allowed to focus on individual cases in a private capacity, support developments on internal bases for each case, and work with leadership towards global standards development.

Broad clinical research and programming development in mental health and criminal justice remain back-burner projects for ABS, dependent on GHC innovations and intended standards development.  Once nonprofit and public sectors are capable of being more transparent through information technology and accounting, then ABS will be able to establish licenses for clinicians to utilize Psychological Science and Abusive Behavioral Syndrome in practice. Clinicians will first be able to utilize models for research and development purposes.

The arts continue to play a role in developing awareness on mental health and justice issues. In 2008, a pilot program for awareness engaged global community outreach and became involved in arts events as a means to introduce community leadership, program staff, and the public to each other. The first phase of the pilot began with 200 artists, whereby painters and sculptors were referred to galleries who were concerned with charitable issues. The second phase narrowed down to a few top artists, whereby hundreds of new contacts from the nonprofit and government community were invited to attend events in their locales (NYC, St. Louis, other). Results of the pilot program provided ABS Community Research, Inc with a framework for both referring artists to galleries with charitable interests, and expanding the audience for both artists and galleries.

In 2008, ABS published an art catalog for Swedish painter Johan Wahlstrom, which inspired a sense of global community, and raised awareness on peace, wellness, and impacts of war. The catalog was printed in the US, and distributed to Los Angeles and Spain.

Now in 2010, with the onset of commitments to the Iranian community, ABS is humbled to apply the four core initiatives to the needs as voiced by Iranian-Americans to assist in liberating their homeland.

• Criminal Justice: Confronting crimes against humanity suspected of being committed by individuals employed by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Iranian citizens
• Mental Health and Wellness: Mobilizing medical aid and related support to victims of atrocities, focusing on rape
• Nonprofit/Public Finance: Engaging in transparency and risk management with the Iranian community towards alliance development
• Arts in Awareness: Exhibiting and mobilizing paintings and sculptures by Iranian, Iranian-American, and supporting artists to raise awareness on the human rights atrocities in Iran, and encourage global community support 

Please register with this website to download founding and related materials.

Feel free to contact Velma Anne Ruth, M.Ed. for more information: velma@abscommunityresearch.org