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Consumers and Family Members

To promote long-lasting and effective systems change, we encourage organizations to integrate consumers and families with lived experience into organizational and initiative planning. Integrating those with lived experience can help jurisdictions to identify and implement effective, person-centered strategies to help others achieve recovery and overcome challenges relating to mental health and substance use.

PROJECTS

SAMHSA SOAR (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery) TA Center

This national project is designed to increase access to the disability income benefit programs (SSI/SSDI) administered by the Social Security Administration for eligible adults and children who are experiencing or at-risk of homelessness and have a mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder.

SAMHSA’s GAINS Center

This national project is designed to expand access to community-based services for adults diagnosed with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders at all points of contact with the justice system.

SAMHSA’s Program to Achieve Wellness

2015 - 2018

This national program was designed to operationalize SAMHSA’s existing wellness initiative. The Program to Achieve Wellness (PAW) promoted recovery and holistic well-being for people across the country through the development of online wellness and technical assistance products and resources, provision of technical assistance, and recognition of innovative and successful wellness programs.

Statewide Family and Consumer Networks Technical Assistance Center

2009 - 2014

Policy Research, Inc. operated SAMHSA’s Statewide Family and Consumer Networks (FCN) TA Center from 2009-2014. The FCN TA Center provided TA to grantees of the Statewide Family and Consumer Networks grant programs (SFN/SCN). Grantees of each program received three-year grants from SAMHSA to develop the infrastructure and business models needed to serve as their state’s resource and advocacy organization for families and youth (SFN) and for adults (SCN) with mental illness.

Homeless Children’s Roundtable

2009 - 2014

In 2009, PRA was awarded the ASPE’s Homeless Children’s Roundtable project. PRA worked with ASPE and three subject-matter experts to: (1) produce background papers that reviewed the research on young people experiencing homelessness and described key federal legislation related to homeless children and the range of federal services available to them; (2) convene a roundtable of researchers, policy experts, practitioners, and federal staff that discussed, assessed, and strategized how to improve services and long-term outcomes for young people who experience homelessness; and (3) summarize the proceedings of the roundtable so that ASPE staff could create a series of issue briefs.

FEATURED RESOURCES

Policy Research’s Impact Reports

Each quarter, Policy Research publishes an impact report spotlighting our work across the country via our technical assistance centers, projects, and fee-for-service activities.

Competence to Stand Trial Flowchart

Competence to stand trial (CST) is raised when justice-involved individuals within the trial process exhibit signs or symptoms of conditions that can impair their ability to competently proceed.

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