Abstract: The Indian Health Service of the United States government oversees 34 Urban Indian Health Organizations, charged with providing mental health services to American Indians living in major US cities. Starting in 2014, University of Michigan researchers in the Department of Psychology began contacting these sites, largely through cold calls, to participate in brief surveys regarding their available mental health services. Using this initial contact as a springboard to develop a relationship, a four-year project including multiple visits to several of these health centers was ultimately conducted. This presentation will discuss how a sequential mixed methods approach to research can be applied in the development of long-term research relationships while also improving the depth and quality of the research itself, using this multi-year project in urban Indian health to illustrate these points.