Who we are: We are people in recovery from serious mental health conditions. Our Coalition is the only national voice ofpeople who have been most severely affected by mental health conditions.We want to make sure our voice is heard and understood in Washington on the decisions that affect our lives and health.

Our work and our movement have strong parallels to the independent living movement for people with physical disabilities. While the Federal government supports independent living centers with $100 million a year, it provides a little over $4 million to our two grant programs.

What we do:Our state organizations—called state mental health consumer networks--and the thousands of local peer-runprograms they support, reach out to our peers to help them overcome isolation and despair. We teach our peers totake personal responsibility,care for themselves and rebuild independent lives. As they recover, they are less prone to crisis and relapse. They become more self-sufficient and less dependent on government support.

Our member organizations play a vital role as partners with state and local mental health agencies. We give people who use public mental health services a voice to make local and state agencies more responsive.

We train and certify people withealth conditions as peer specialists work in mental health centers, in housing programs, crisis teams, and many other capacities to provide support, education and recovery skills to clients.

What we ask:Our member networks provide local programs, services, supports that help our peers to recover and to lead independent lives in the community. The backbone of this work is two small competitive SAMHSA grants, one for statewide consumer networks and the other for five technical assistance centers.

State Mental Health Network Grants for Consumers and Families. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of HHSgives small, competitive grants to 30 state mental health consumer networks, totaling$2.5 million. While some states have established networks, many others have not, especially in the frontier states. The network grants help new state consumer networks cover essential startup and infrastructure costs. Forty-Six state family networks also receive grants.

The Administration proposes cutting combined funding for consumer and family network grants by nearly $1.3 million (20 percent). Statewide consumer networks are the backbone of the consumer recovery movement. State funding for networks is drying up as states cut billions from mental health services.

  • Sustain funding for consumer and family network grants at the FY 2012 level of $6.26 million.

Technical Assistance Center Grants. The second program awards competitive grants totaling $1.9 million for five national technical assistance centers. These centers provide technical assistance to consumers, families, and supporters of consumers with the aim of helping people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses to decrease their dependence on social services, avoid psychiatric hospitalization, and live meaningful lives in the community.The technical assistance centers are training state networks, especially the newest ones, in the management and leadership skills they need to succeed. Thus the two programs are very complimentary.

  • Sustain funding at the FY 2012 level of $1.93 million.

Alternatives Conference. This conference, which is extremely important to our movement and thousands of mental health consumers, has been held since 1985. This conference is complementary to psychiatric treatment. Most of the participants have a major mental illness, are on medication and have case managers. These conferences give people hope, provide wellness and recovery skills, and help people network with others in a peer support fashion.

  • We oppose any budget language to end the Alternatives conference.

Facts about federal programs that promote mental health recovery

  • Evidence shows that people with serious mental health conditions CAN and DO recover, with the proper combination of support from peers with lived experience of mental illness; good medical care; meaningful activities including education, volunteer work, and jobs; and decent, affordable housing. A psychiatric diagnosis does not need to be a life-long sentence to isolation, hopelessness and dysfunction. Source: The Vermont Longitudinal Study of Persons With Severe Mental Illness, II. Harding, C. American Journal of Psychiatry 144 (1987):727-734.
  • Recovery benefits the person, their community and society. As people recover hope, take better care of themselves and rebuild their lives, their mental health condition often becomes more manageable and they become less prone to crisis and relapse. Recovery improves quality of life, results in good outcomes for publicly funded treatment and support, and reduces costly crisis-driven hospitalization and incarceration.
  • SAMHSA programs that promote the recovery of people with mental illness in the community are effective and essential. SAMHSA funds small, competitive grants – totaling $2.5 million – to 30 statewide mental health consumer networks, which are the backbone of the consumer recovery movement. SAMHSA also provides for five national technical assistance centers, which help people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses decrease their dependence on social services, avoid psychiatric hospitalization, and live meaningful lives in the community. These programs must remain fully funded, so they can continue to promote recovery, foster the growth of peer support and make certain that people with mental health conditions have a voice in the mental health system and are included in the public policy conversation.
  • With the help of these programs, people in recovery are making their communities healthier and safer. The state consumer networks and national technical assistance centers that receive SAMHSA grants support thousands of peer-run programs across the country. They are staffed by people who are successfully recovering who help their peers to achieve health and stability. They work tirelessly to help people with similar challenges to overcome isolation and fear, seek help and rebuild their lives.
  • People in recovery are contributing to exciting innovations in mental health policy and service provision:
  • Mental health agencies have embraced our goal of recovery, because it improves outcomes for the person and for taxpayers. As people recover they are less likely to relapse and less dependent on costly services.
  • Mental health agencies and managed care organizations are employing certified peer support specialists —many trained by state consumer networks—to engage, encourage and mentor people receiving mental health treatment and services. The Veterans Administration has embraced peer support and trains veterans to support their peers.
  • Peer-developed training programs for self-care, wellness and crisis support are being widely adopted. One of the most widely used is the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), an evidence-based practice.
  • Peer-run respite centers are demonstrating that people in experiencing crisis can receive 1:1 support and learn recovery skills in a small, home-like setting, avoiding costly hospitalization.

Contact Raymond Bridge, Director of Public Policy,