Grants Dashboard

As one of the National Technical Assistance Centers (NTACS), the STAR Center a component of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) housed within the NAMI National Headquarters, is focused on strengthening and enhancing consumer-directed approaches, recovery concepts and empowerment for those with serious mental illnesses and co-occurring substance use disorders. STAR Center activities encompass the tenets of mental health consumer self-help: consumer empowerment, independence, responsibility, choice, and respect and dignity. Quantifiable technical assistance and training services include: 1) content-rich, regularly updated Website, 2) quarterly newsletter, 3) in-person and online TA, 4) teleconferences, 5) social networking, 6) engaging youth as intrinsic to the consumer-led process, not a separate approach and 7) capacity building guidance for consumer-run groups based upon current data, in the first year, we anticipate 35,000 unique Facebook users,1,350 Likes, 1,800 Twitter posts and 300 followers, 8,025 subscribers to the STAR Center list serve, and 22,500 unique STAR Center website visitors. Our distinctive mix of inspiring and informative posts will reach not only those in our assigned Regions, but also across the country. We anticipate an increase of 10-15% per year in the number reached utilizing these resources. Through quantitative and qualitative measures of service delivery and participant self-assessment, the STAR Center implements ongoing monitoring of progress toward these goals, strengthening consumer engagement nationwide, particularly in communities where consumer organizations, networks and leadership do not exist.

The CAFE Mental Health Technical Assistance Center (CAFE TAC) will support the wellness and empowerment of individual mental health consumers and foster the growth and sustainability of mental health consumer organizations that successfully advocate for and implement consumer-directed approaches to mental health. Its purpose is to equip consumer operated mental health organizations with knowledge that will allow them to adopt sound business practices, generate sustainability and positively impact the mental health system of care in their communities, states and regions. CAFE TAC will support the development of strong mental health consumer organizations that can credibly advocate for a systemic shift toward recovery-oriented, person-centered model of care. In order for that to happen, they must be housed in sustainable consumer-run organizations with reliable infrastructure and an authentic voice. It is the intent of CAFE TAC to grow that infrastructure. This will occur as organizations acquire knowledge and skills from the TA center, and through collective mutual support among TA recipients in assigned regions. CAFE TAC will also disseminate information regard- ing subject area topics to a national audience of mental health consumers and organizations. This effort will be supported by the program’s three goals: 1. Mental health consumer organizations in assigned regions will implement strategies to develop strong infrastructure, sound business practices and sustainable funding sources to allow them to effectively represent the consumer voice; 2. Mental health consumer organizations will develop regional networks to facilitate cooperative learning and mutual inter-organizational cooperation that leads to meaningful system change on the regional level; and 3. Consumers and consumer organizations will acquire knowledge and understanding of assigned subject areas.

Doors to Wellbeing is a new National Consumer Technical Assistance Center established by the Copeland Center for Wellness and Recovery to assist consumer-run organizations to 1) advance the evidence-based practice of WRAP facilitation and other self-help services; 2) spark youth-led, consumer-run organizations and initiatives; and 3) to support organizations providing peer-delivered, self-help services to the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the nation moves deeper into the 21st century, there is a new generation of consumers emerging with different cultural, generational, gender, sexual, and technological orientations and a new set of challenges. Doors to Wellbeing will engage the assets, enthusiasm, and lived-experience of our nation’s young adult consumers to help energize the consumer-led movement in the United States. While promoting youth leadership, Doors to Wellbeing will also be a technology-facilitated connection point for millions of diverse Americans of all ages who are forging new pathways to living full and independent lives in the communities of their choice. Doors to Wellbeing will help to usher in the peer-to-peer self-help movement 2.0. The five goals of Doors to Wellbeing are to: 1) Assist with the development of statewide consumer-run networks in five states; 2) Assist 25 consumer-run organizations to implement and deliver evidence-based WRAP facilitation services and other self-help services that produce positive health outcomes; 3) Train 500 young consumer leaders and develop 25 youth leadership initiatives that produce positive outcomes for consumer-run organizations and for young consumers; 4) Assist 15 organizations to provide evidence-based WRAP facilitation and other self-help services that produce positive health outcomes for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and 5) Assist 100 consumer-run organizations to understand and implement best practices in business, organizational, and programmatic operations.

Peerlink National Technical Assistance Center (Peerlink NTAC), a program of Mental Health America of Oregon (MHAO), will further develop and expand our provision of technical assistance to mental health peers and peer groups, behavioral health organizations, government entities, and the general public. Peerlink NTAC's targeted technical assistance will increase peer participation in mental health system design, evaluation, and implementation; expand peer roles throughout integrated health systems; and expand the capacity and sustainability of peer-run programs and organizations. Through the effective provision of technical assistance and knowledge sharing, Peerlink NTAC will meet these Project Goals: 1. Introduce concepts of recovery and peer support in communities where these concepts are new or not generally known; specifically engaging communities that have not historically been engaged or engagement has been challenging (i.e. rural and isolated communities, veterans, youth/young adult, Native American communities); 2. Increase individual and collective voice of peers in communities across our assigned regions; 3. Increase the capacity and continued success of peer organizations by providing technical assistance specific to business and organizational development; 4. Increase the capacity of peers to provide employment supports and financial self-sufficiency courses to peers in their communities; 5. Increase the availability, quality and quantity of peer support training within the regions served; 6. Increase engagement with veteran organizations. Peerlink NTAC will reach a minimum of 3,000 persons over the first year with over 15,000 individuals impacted over the 5 year grant cycle, through a combination of choreographed strategies including: webinars, in-person training and technical assistance (TA), newsletters, websites, fact sheets, videos, radio shows, creative use of social media and new peer support services.

Through the "Building Community Networks to Facilitate Mental Health Treatment and Recovery" project, The National Empowerment Center (NEC) will help mental health (MH) consumers develop the community services and supports needed in order to facilitate recovery and community integration. NEC will address gaps in crisis response services and assist in bringing states into compliance with the ADA and Olmstead through promoting consumer involvement in service delivery and policy formation. Building on its 23-year history of engaging consumers to help achieve the promise of the ADA and Olmstead, NEC will accomplish these goals by: 1) Promoting consumer participation in programs, policy development and evaluation; 2) Developing consumer networks; and 3) Providing technical assistance (TA) to enhance the business capacity of those networks. NEC will provide TA on a national level in one of the following subject matter areas: crisis response services or rights protection. NEC will identify the most effective consumer directed approaches and partner with those programs to disseminate practical guidance to consumers for replicating these programs and services in their states. NEC will provide TA to increase the number of consumers providing community-based, Medicaid-reimbursable services such as crisis service providers, peer advocates, and a variety of other roles. NEC will provide TA to assigned regions in the country to assist with the development of consumer-run organizations and MH system transformation. Additional emphasis will be placed on states that have nonexistent or underdeveloped statewide consumer run organizations. Using the Asset-Based Community Development approach, NEC will build on existing strengths to guide consumer leaders through the process of starting their own statewide networks and becoming effective agents of change through leadership development program.