Date: 10/12/2007 Media Contact: SAMHSA Press Telephone: 240-276-2130
SAMHSA Awards $4.2 Million for Statewide Consumer Network Grants
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today announced the award of 20 grants totaling almost $4.2 million over three years to help consumer organizations around the country work with policymakers and service providers to improve services for persons living with serious mental illnesses.
"Today, nearly every state has an active consumer organization dedicated to promoting care and support services that are responsive to the needs of people with mental illnesses," said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D. "These grants will help continue to drive the mental health system toward providing recovery-oriented services."
Grantees are encouraged to work in partnership with their state’s Mental Health Transformation State Incentive Grant staff toward achieving common statewide consumer network goals. Grants funds will be used to support activities such as:
Improvement of community services to include creating individualized plans of care; developing anti-stigma initiatives; interacting with the criminal justice system; supporting employment programs; developing supports for returning veterans);
Improvement of cultural competence issues ,which include rights protection; responsiveness to diverse needs of racial and ethnic minorities; outreach to rural, minority, and older adult populations;
Policy development to improve and support establishment of standards of care, alternatives to seclusion and restraint, and the development/revision of credentialing, licensure, or accreditation requirements; and,
Tele-health education and other on-line supports, including the creation of personal recovery pages.
Each grant recipient will receive approximately $70,000 per year for up to three years. Continuation of these awards is subject to both availability of funds and progress achieved by the grantees. Total funding for year one is $1.4 million. This grant program will be administered by SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services. The grantees are:
NAMI Alaska, Anchorage -- $70,000
California Network of Mental Health Clients, Sacramento -- $70,000
Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network, Decatur -- $70,000
United Self-Help, Honolulu, Hawaii -- $70,000
Kentucky Consumer Advocate, Louisville -- $70,000
On Our Own of Maryland, Baltimore -- $70,000
Advocacy Initiative Network of Maine, Bangor -- $70,000
M-Power Inc., Roxbury, Mass. – $69,314
Mental Health Consumer/Survivor Network, St. Paul, Minn. -- $70,000
NAMI of Missouri, Jefferson City -- $70,000
Mental Health Association of Nebraska, Lincoln -- $70,000
Mental Health Empowerment Project, Inc., Albany, New York -- $69,985
We CARE Network, Inc. Columbus, Ohio -- $70,000
Oklahoma Mental Health Consumer Council, INC., Oklahoma City -- $70,000
Mental Health Association of Oregon, Portland -- $70,000
South Carolina SHARE, West Columbia – $69,999
Texas Mental Health Consumers, Austin -- $70,000
Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, Rutland -- $70,000
Virginia Organization of Consumers Asserting Leadership, Inc., Richmond -- $70,000
For additional information about these grants and other SAMHSA programs, please visit www.samhsa.gov.
SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation's substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery system.
