SAMHSA awards grants to improve mental health services

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today announced the award of 19 grants totaling 1.3 million for the first year and $3.9 million for up to three years to support consumer organizations in their work to improve mental health services for persons living with serious mental illnesses.

"Mental health services are most effective when consumers are empowered and manage their own care," SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D., said. "These new grants ensure that experiential knowledge is valued and consumers are respected leaders in the development of effective behavioral health."

Grantees are encouraged to work in partnership with their states in mental health transformation activities to achieve common state wide consumer network goals, whether through their state's Mental Health Transformation State Incentive Grants or other system reform initiatives.

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 all of the grants for the first year is approximately $1.3 million. This grant program is part of SAMHSA's strategic initiative on preventing mental illnesses.

The grantees are:

* NAMI Missouri, Jefferson, MO -- $70,000
* Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, Rutland, VT -- $70,000
* Mental Health Consumers/Survivors Network, St. Paul, MN -- $70,000
* Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers' Association, Harrisburg, PA -- $70,000
* Recovery Empowerment Network, Phoenix, AZ -- $58,881
* The Transformation Center, Roxbury, MA -- $70,000
* Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network, Decatur, GA -- $70,000
* The Main Place, Newark, OH -- $70,000
* On Our Own of Maryland, Inc., Baltimore, MD -- $70,000
* KEY Consumer Organization, Indianapolis, IN -- $69,983
* Consumers Self Help Center, Sacramento, CA -- $68,470
* Consumer Voices are Born, Vancouver, WA -- $70,000
* Mental Health Association of Oregon, Portland, OR -- $70,000
* VOCAL, Inc., Charlottesville, VA -- $70,000
* Advocacy Initiative Network of Maine, Bangor, ME -- $70,000
* Recovery Institute of Southwest Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI -- $69,995
* CA Network of Mental Health Clients, Sacramento, CA -- $70,000
* Mental Health Action, Burien, WA -- $70,000
* United Self Help, Honolulu, HI --$70,000

For additional information about these grants and other SAMHSA programs, please visit http://www.samhsa.gov/.