MHTP & WIMHRT Mini-Grant Program
The Mental Health Transformation Project in partnership with the Washington Institute for Mental Health Research and Training (WIMHRT) presented the 2008 Mini-Grant Program for mental health consumers and family members. This program invested a total of $45,000 in grants for eligible applicants to conduct research and evaluation projects.
Mini-Grant awards were given for up to $15,000 per project. Smaller evaluation projects with proposed funding between $1,000 and $14,999 were also considered. Previous grantees (recipients of 2007 awards) were eligible for continuation funding or could propose a new project. Applicants were encouraged to think outside the box when developing their proposal ideas.
Eligible applicants included mental health consumers or family members, consumer/family organizations, tribes or tribal members. In 2008 there were 12 applicants.
2008 Grantees
Grantee: Tamara L. Johnson, Statewide
Project Title: Youth ‘N Action! Youth-Guided Program Evaluation
Youth ‘N Action (YNA) is a Washington State youth advocacy organization that empowers youth to become involved in public policy and the systems that serve them. YNA will conduct focus groups and individual interviews with youth statewide to assess and evaluate youth involvement in their system of care and to determine the effectiveness of YNA. Ten YNA youth leaders will learn how to develop and administer a quantitative and qualitative tool that measures the extent to which youth feel that they are participating in youth-driven care. They will also examine how youth benefit from YNA in their personal lives, communities, and system of care. Findings will be used to evaluate how closely YNA replicates the Youth Involvement in the System of Care Model and to guide improvements for increased fidelity and statewide consistency. Award Amount: $9,000.
Grantee: Rhonda Smith, Clark County
Project Title: Consumers Taking Action: Survey of Clark County’s Need of Additional Day Treatment Programs
There is concern that adequate resources for children needing day treatment programs do not exist in Clark County, WA. Consumers Taking Action will survey parents, caregivers of children with mental illness, mental health providers, and school administrators to determine the need for additional day treatment programs in Clark County. The survey will be developed by family member Rhonda Smith and distributed to Clark County’s mental health agencies, as well as the school districts in Clark County. Survey results will be reported regarding the extent to which there is a need for day treatment programs for youth living in Clark County. Award
Amount: $3,000.
Grantee: Moses Lake Consumer Working Group, Grant County
Project Title: Rural Services Review: A Comprehensive Snapshot of Consumer Services in Grant County
Moses Lake Consumer Working Group will conduct a three-stage evaluation of Grant County, WA to identify mental health services that could be provided by a consumer-driven organization. After identifying the services currently offered in Grant County, Moses Lake Consumer Working Group will survey adult consumers to determine unmet service needs. Survey data will be analyzed to develop a needs assessment which will then generate a service plan that meets those identified unmet needs. This year’s grant will comprise the first stage of evaluation by surveying all organizations that provide services to mental health consumers in Grant County. A final brochure called "Grant County Mental Health Consumer Services Guide" will be produced. Award Amount: $3,000.
Grantees: Skip Dane/Dan Rubin, CHOICE Regional Health Network, Thurston County
Project Title: Ability Recovery Coaching: Need, Availability, Barriers and Solutions
Funding will be used to explore the need for “ability recovery coaching” in Southwest Washington, the barriers consumers face in obtaining coaching, and the policy and financing issues associated with these barriers. Coaching focuses on how to figure out practical solutions to problems encountered while going through everyday life and striving to meet personal life goals. This type of coaching is used to provide advice to people who experience psychological difficulties but may not have a mental health diagnosis that qualifies them for certain types of services. The PI will conduct ethnographic interviews with at least 20 consumers, and professionals associated with this project (the core research team) will carry out interviews with mental health counselors, case managers, and policy and finance experts to determine the availability of coaching services, as well as barriers to providing these services to high-functioning, low-income consumers. Award Amount: $9,300.
Grantee: Michael Haan, Mind Freedom Recovery Support Network, Statewide
Project Title: Discovering Recovery
Mind Freedom Recovery Support Network, an affiliate of MindFreedom International, intends to establish a dialogue with mental health consumers regarding their knowledge about resilience, recovery, and their personal obstacles. To address the protection of an individual’s right to recovery, this project will collect data from adult consumers in Washington State to determine the extent to which consumers are experiencing intended program outcomes in recovery. Interviews will focus on consumers’ understanding of their issues, the types of assistance that they have sought/received, and their perceived outcome. A certified peer counselor will analyze the data to ascertain areas in which civil or human rights are involved as obstructions to the recovery process. Award Amount: $8,050.
Grantee: Jenifer Taylor, Jefferson County Citizens for Healthcare Access, Jefferson County
Project Title: Effectiveness Evaluation of the Mental Health Service Guide
Last year, Jefferson County Citizens for Healthcare Access used Mini-Grant funds to identify and compile resources available to mental health consumers in Jefferson County. This year, the group will evaluate the usefulness of this collected information through focus groups during and after the guides’ distribution. The data in the guide will be compared against the experiences of consumers who have used the resources documented in the guide. These sessions will also be used to educate consumers in how to use the guide so that its value will be more easily recognized. Interviews will also be conducted with potential users and agency managers to evaluate the guide’s usefulness in more detail and to identify existing gaps in mental health services. Feedback generated from the focus groups and interviews will inform modifications to the guide and its distribution. Award Amount: $7,925.
Grantee: Ruth Herold, Changes Parent Support Network, King County
Project Title: Changes Parent Support Network: Measurements for Success
Changes is a non-profit organization that supports and educates parents of children engaging in self-destructive and acting-out behaviors through provision of groups and a phone resource help line. Changes plans to build an empirically-based case to support the expansion of their services to meet the growing need for these types of resources. A system for evaluating outcomes, identifying community sectors of need, and establishing a database for tracking service recipients will be developed. Changes will create and administer a survey that collects data on parent participant experiences with their services. Surveys will be mailed to participants that are randomly selected from the newly created database. Award Amount: $4,725.
