National Consumer and Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers (Short Title: Consumer and Consumer Supporter TA Centers)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2015 National Consumer and Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers (Short Title: Consumer and Consumer Supporter TA Centers) grants. The purpose of this program is to provide technical assistance to promote consumer-directed approaches for adults with serious mental illnesses. Such programs maximize consumer self-determination and recovery, promote access to treatment, and assist people with serious mental illness by decreasing their dependence on expensive social services and avoiding psychiatric hospitalization. The entities responsible for providing technical assistance for this program may be either consumer or consumer supporter organizations. (See Appendix III of the RFA for Definition of Consumer and Consumer Supporter Organizations.) The primary recipients of the Consumer and Consumer Supporter TA Centers’ technical assistance activities will be consumers, consumer organizations, or consumer supporter organizations. Additionally, Consumer and Consumer Supporter TA Centers will provide technical assistance in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regions with a focus on those states where consumer organizations and leadership are underdeveloped. In addition, technical assistance may also be provided to state mental health systems serving adults with serious mental illnesses, service providers, and the general public. The National Consumer and Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers program seeks to address behavioral health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities by encouraging the implementation of strategies to decrease the differences in access, service use and outcomes among the racial and ethnic minority populations served. The National Consumer and Consumer Supporter Technical Assistance Centers grants are authorized under Section 520A of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Mental Health and Mental Disorders Topic Area HP 2020-MHMD.