HOME PAGE:

No coherence. Cannot determine what the organization is.

“National Dialogue” lead is confusing. Not clear whether one is occuring, should occur, etc.

“Expect recovery”: To the layman, what does this mean? What is recovery? From what?

No mention of community foundation.

“FEMHC unites today’s top researchers with the passion of private philanthropy to bring recovery practices to every community.”

WHO WE ARE:

We are an international group of philanthropists, researchers, psychiatrists, psychologists, public policy analysts, advocates, providers of mental health services, family and community members who came together in 2011 to form The Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care.

The Foundation highlights important, existing research, raises support for new innovative research and programs, and sponsors symposia to build a new standard of care that focuses on long-term recovery and wellness. Our Scientific Advisory Committee guides these reform activities.

As a community foundation, we are a catalyzing force that creates a better future for all by addressing the community’s most critical and persistent challenges, inclusively uniting people, institutions and resources, and producing significant, widely shared and lasting results. We do so by connecting the passion of private philanthropy with the genius of today’s top researchers and social entrepreneurs to make mental health recovery a reality. In addition to developing and funding research projects, the Foundation serves in a variety of other roles to further its mission including the following:

Incubator: Donors are able to use the Foundation to initiate and support the creation of new Programs of Excellence. Before legally incorporating their new initiative on a stand-alone basis, donors are able to attract tax-deductible, start-up funding through the Foundation. Once the Fund’s program was established, the Fund leaders might spin it off and develop it into its own non-profit.

The Foundation assists new mental health ideas and initiatives to attract initial philanthropic support by nurturing (“incubator”) such programs with the Foundation’s administrative guidance and tax-exempt status until such programs can be organized as their own stand-alone non-profit entities.

Operator: In addition to serving as a vehicle to fund and support independent mental health initiatives, The Foundation also designs, seeks donor support for, and conducts its own research and educational programs.

Grantseeker: The Foundation seeks cultivates donations from individuals, corporations and other foundations.

Philanthropic Partner: Many mental health initiatives have insufficient expansion capacity and adaptability and need a partner to help them obtain grants and fund development. The Foundation’s expertise in planned giving could help these organizations grow and thrive by assisting them with capital campaigns and management of endowments.

Neutral Convener: The Foundation convenes interested parties and experts to discuss and formulate plans for developing new mental-health protocols and treatment strategies. The Foundation rises above the politicization of issues and our role in these meetings, as a “neutral convener,” helps ensure that resulting philanthropic activity promotes mental health care in ways that are consistent with the Foundation’s mission.

Adviser: The Foundation is an adviser to donors wishing to make a difference in the mental health world, and to the leaders of innovative not-for-profit mental health initiatives that are in need of donor resources. The advice to both groups is based on the Foundation’s “New Mainstream” principles and will focus on programs that produce concrete, measurable improvements in the quality of life of individuals with psychiatric challenges.

Evaluator: Because so many of the mental health initiatives of the past two decades have failed, donors today often mistrust requests for philanthropy to assist with mental health issues. For this reason, the Foundation staff will ensure that all fund recipients are held accountable. Each recipient of Foundation funds will be required to submit a detailed budget and timeline, to focus on clear goals that are consistent with the Foundation’s mission, to make regular progress reports, and produce quantifiable results. Objective evaluation and documentation of these results will build greater trust in mental health philanthropy

Thoughts:

Mission needs to be clearer.What are we?

A mental health “research developer and funder”. A steward and manager of other projects and their funds (?) An incubator of other “new mental health recovery program initiatives” A mental health project philanthropy advisor to donors

VISION, MISSION, VALUES:

Our Vision: All people have hope, knowledge, tools, and community available to them to recover from trauma and mental health challenges.

Our Mission: To promote better mental health outcomes. We do so by identifying, developing, and sharing knowledge with the public about mental health care that best helps people recover

and live well in society. We promote improvements in mental health care by sponsoring research and the development of programs designed to help people thrive--physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. 

Our Core Values:  Respect  Compassion  Integrity: honest factual information  Dialogue Inclusion

What Is a Community Foundation?

The community foundation is a catalyzing force that creates a better future for all by addressing the community’s most critical or persistent challenges, inclusively uniting people, institutions and resources, and producing significant, widely shared and lasting results.

THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION...

is a catalyzing force

Definition: Catalyst: a person or event that quickly causes change or action; an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action

This acknowledges that the community foundation does not act in isolation. It acts in concert with others, sometimes taking the lead, sometimes following, sometimes paving the way for new leaders.

that creates a better future for all

This acknowledges that the community foundation's constituency is the entire community. Every issue, every cause it embraces, has some connection to the greater good.

by addressing the community's most critical or persistent challenges

This acknowledges that the community foundation doesn't shy away from something because it's too hard or "it has always been that way" and it can be counted on to address the things that matter most.

inclusively uniting people, institutions and resources This acknowledges how the community foundation goes about its business: in the open and ensuring broad

participation. It also recognizes that the community foundation is well-suited to assemble and leverage resources.

and producing significant, widely shared and lasting results

This acknowledges that the community foundation looks beyond quick fixes and innovative pilot projects, and that it has the staying power to reach long-term results.

This whole page is taken directly from another source. It needs to be referenced. It should be introduced.

Reference:

CFLeads and Aspen InstitCommunity Strategies Group (2008). Framework for community leadership by a community foundation. Arlington, VA, Council on Foundations.

In any event, it would be better for FEMHC to write its own statement about what is a community foundation from its point of view... and why FEMHC is considering itself to be one.

Other definitions:

What is a community foundation? (From the Global Fund for Community Foundations)

An indigenous grantmaking institution that accumulates financial resources from a variety of donors (including local individuals and companies, Diaspora populations, government bodies and international funders).

An institution that, when possible, pools sufficient resources to develop a permanent asset base in the form of an endowment. An institution in which local people and groups respond to local challenges. A grantmaker that provided funds to local groups to empower them to address a range of local needs, such as education,

poverty alleviation, youth and women’s programs, health, community development and others. A bridge builder that helps create links between different sectors, particularly when there is a climate of public distrust in

institutions. An advocate that takes a leadership role with local or national authorities on sensitive social issues. A steward that accumulates and pools resources for the public good – for today and in perpetuity, and distributes those

resources in an open and transparent way.

- See more at: http://www.mott.org/news/news/2010/GFCFmainstory#sthash.WPizIb3P.dpuf

What are Community Foundations? (From the Council on Foundations)

Community foundations are tax-exempt public charities serving thousands of people who share a common interest—improving the quality of life in their area.

Individuals, families, businesses, and organizations create permanent charitable funds that help their region meet the challenges of changing times. The foundation invests and administers these funds.

All community foundations are overseen by a volunteer board of leading citizens and run by professionals with expertise in identifying their communities’ needs.

In the United States, community foundations serve tens of thousands of donors, administer more than $31 billion in charitable funds, and address the core concerns of nearly 700 communities and regions.

Community foundations:

know their communities—what the needs are and how to address them share your interests

care about the future offer giving vehicles that are easy to set up and manage, and that provide tax benefits

Why invest in a community foundation?

Community foundations go beyond simply making grants that advance charitable activities. They also identify current and emerging issues, channel resources to address their communities’ needs, and help their regions prepare for the future.

FEMHC STATEMENT OF INTENT

This website has been created to support the mission of the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care, which is “to promote better mental health outcomes. We do so by identifying, developing, and sharing knowledge with the public about mental health care that best helps people to recover and live well in society. We promote improvements in mental health care by sponsoring research and the development of programs designed to help people thrive--physically, mentally, socially and spiritually.”

The resources that are selected for this website have been chosen because they represent new ideas and/or practices that in

some significant way raise awareness, have the potential to promote better mental health outcomes, or further the dialogue about the direction of mental health care in the United States and beyond. We hope that these resources will give voice to perspectives on mental health issues and care different from the prevailing illness narrative.

The information in this website is not official policy of the Foundation and is not intended as medical advice to replace the expertise and judgment of any mental health care team. It is intended to help individuals and families to make informed decisions, together with their doctors and/or mental health and other providers.

Doctors and other mental health professionals may have reasons for suggesting a treatment plan that differs from the general views and options found on the Foundation’s website. Don't hesitate to ask questions about your treatment options.

FEATURED FUND

Leave alone the idea of a “featured fund”. Too confusing... Or at least this page needs to introduce this concept better...

A National Conversation on Mental Health President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden launched a national conversation to increase understanding and awareness of mental health at their National Conference on Mental Health on June 3.

In support of this effort, a number of deliberative democracy organizations are joining together to engage citizens through “Creating Community Solutions,” a series of events around the country that will focus dialogue and action on mental health issues.

The Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care is the designated fiscal agent for raising private tax-deductible support for many of these conversations. Donations will pay for facilitation and follow-up action planning.

There are several Community Dialogue events already scheduled. A dialogue in our nation's capital is in the works, but is still in need of funding. You can contribute instantly via PayPal by clicking on the button below:

We should note that this is a joint initiative of HHS and DOE: http://www.hhs.gov/digitalstrategy/people-first/mental-health-dot-gov.html . Do we need to clarify what is our relationship to this effort?

ANATOMY FUND

This needs more explanation, e.g.,

Why is this book important?

Where does its thesis fit in the general concept of psychiatry as practiced today?

What is the book’s relationship to FEMHC?

Who is Robert Whitaker?

What should professionals (which ones?) read this and form study groups about it?

Who is in charge of distributing it?

Also, the title “Anatomy Fund” is confusing, sounds like it relates to medical anatomy...

Bill Anthony General Research Fund

Honoring Bill Anthony, PhD, considered the father of the Recovery Movement, this fund is dedicated to attracting philanthropic resources to support research and program development focused on expanding the availability of effective recovery programming.

Bill’s bio should be beefed up. See an alternative below.

There should also be a better explanation of the mechanics of this “general fund”, i.e., that this fund supports specific promising modalities of recovery.

This fund is currently supporting the following grant projects:

Early Psychosis Treatment ResearchEarly psychosis treatment is the bedrock of making recovery the new mainstream. The Collaborative Pathways Project below is just the first of many grants to come that will support research in this area.

$1,976,446

Collaborative Pathways ProjectIn the Collaborative Pathway, we engage young people at the start of their encounter with the mental health system to change their

trajectory from disability and chronicity to recovery-oriented self-direction. The person in crisis is engaged in a way that includes him/her and his or her support system in treatment decisions from the very start, using clear, everyday language to make decision-making accessible.

The Collaborative Pathways uses an existing, state-of-the-art, recovery-oriented mobile crisis team to deliver services in the home whenever possible; avert unnecessary hospitalization; and build on the person’s and family’s strengths and preferences. The model uses shared decision making and informed choice about neuroleptic medications to apply “collaborative psychopharmacology” principles, honoring as an option the possibility of using little or no neuroleptic when that is the patient’s and family’s preference and opting for benzodiazepines for symptomatic relief of anxiety/insomnia, again if this is the person’s and family’s preference. Such neuroleptic delay/minimization has been demonstrated to result in no long-term negative consequences, allowing individuals and families time to collaborate on treatment decisions.

Principal Investigator: Chris Gordon, MD Fiscal Agent: Advocates, Inc. Location: Framingham, MA

$259,700

Adapting the Open Dialogue Model in the United States The beginning of this project is already underway, overseen by Dr. Doug Ziedonis at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Additional funding will allow the research team to develop the full practice manual as well as the full set of fidelity scales.

Project Approach The project will lead to the creation of specific tools to help clinicians, program leaders, and researchers further implement and evaluate the Open Dialogue approach in the United States. Developing these materials will be an iterative process that includes further written description of the approach, training and pilot implementation, and obtaining feedback through supervision and other methods. The building blocks will then lead our research group (and others) to do future clinical studies of specific populations (first break psychosis cases, transitional age youth, etc) and organizational change studies (in which there are a wider range of clinical cases, but the study is of the system, clinicians, and clients).

$700,000.

Reference:

Pratt, C. W., et al. (2007). Psychiatric rehabilitation. New York, Elsevier, p. 141.

COOPER RIIS FUND

Needs more explanation of what makes CR distinctive as a model of the kind of recovery FEMHC is about....

“...healing community development...” We may have to separate and define “healing community”...

Much more needed here...

Who is Dorothea Dix? How is DD relevant to the FEMHC vision for mental health?

How is DD related to “decriminalization of mental illness”? (She was rather more about humane treatment than decriminization)

Why a “think tank”? To think about what?

Empathic Therapy Fund

This fund’s description should begin with a overvie of the problem of umempathic care: what is it? Why does it occur? Etc.

Then, the association with Dr. Peter Breggin, who is controversial both with psychaitrists and families, should be stated earlier and clearer.

With science as our lens and empathy as our light, we believe that all emotional and psychological healing begins within a respectful and caring relationship. We believe that being helpful to others comes first from the heart, and then draws upon sound principles, including scientific integrity, personal responsibility, honesty, and respect for the uniqueness of each individual.

We value the integrity and inviolability of each person’s brain, mind, and spirit, and embrace the timeless medical ideal of non-maleficence, as embodied by the Latin dictum “Primum non nocere “ (“First, do no harm!”). Based on science and empathy, the best approaches are wholly voluntary and entirely free of psychiatric diagnoses and drugs. As pioneers in the emerging field of empathic therapy, we encourage all human services that are rooted in mutual respect and equality between those who seek help and those who wish to provide it. “Empathic therapy” encompasses the many therapeutic, educational and self-development programs that are rooted in empathy. Members of our organization, the Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education and Living (a nonprofit 501c3), include professionals from a wide variety of specialties, viewpoints and practices, as well as advocates and laypersons (the general public). Our members are bound together by their shared dedication to empathy in our work and personal lives.

We support research, education, publications, conferences, and other projects that are based on and that foster caring, respectful human relationships.

The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education & Living has an Advisory Board of more than 70 outstanding, international professionals from the fields of medicine, neurology, psychiatry, nursing, addiction, psychology, social work, counseling, ministry, education, law and public advocacy. The Center was founded by psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin, MD and Ginger Ross Breggin. Visit us at our nonprofit website www.EmpathicTherapy.org.

HEARING VOICES FILM PROJECT

Healing Voices is a narrative documentary currently in production. Healing Voices will chronicle the lives of a few people who experience mental health issues, extreme states, and/or trauma in real time, as well as featuring some foundational characters who have made incredible recoveries mostly by finding alternatives to our current medical model. Making appearances in the film will be many of the leaders of the consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement in mental health from around the country.

Hearing Voices Research & Development FundThe Hearing Voices Research and Development Fund has been established to advance the development of the Hearing Voices Approach in the U.S. The Project was created by Gail A. Hornstein, Professor of Psychology at Mount Holyoke College, and Jacqui Dillon, National Chair of the Hearing Voices Network in England, who have been working together for 10 years to bring new approaches to understanding and coping with voice hearing.

Background People who hear voices, see visions, or experience other extreme states (estimated to be number nearly 25% of the population) often end up being diagnosed as psychotic (usually with schizophrenia) and a poor prognosis. The medications which have routinely been prescribed for such patients since the 1950s are effective for some but not for others, and even when they do work, their benefits typically diminish over time,

while destructive physical and psychological side effects (such as .... ) become increasingly problematic. Hearing voices in particular remains a challenge for many, many patients even after they have been tried on every possible medication over many years, and continues to be seen by many psychiatrists as a "treatment-resistant" symptom.

Hearing Voices Approach For the past 25 years, the Hearing Voices Network – an international collaboration of professionals, people with lived experience, and their families and friends – has been working to develop an alternative approach to coping with voices, visions, and other extreme states that is empowering and useful and does not start from the assumption that people who have these experiences suffer from a chronic illness. A large body of research data, published in major professional journals, now provides support for key aspects of this approach (see references below), and the hundreds of peer-support groups that have developed in 20 countries around the world are enabling voice hearers – even those who have been chronically disabled – to learn to cope more effectively or rid themselves of the negative effects of their voices. These groups are now starting to spread across the US, but the lack of a systematic program for training potential facilitators and others interested in incorporating HVN's work into their research or teaching is holding the United States back from being able to offer this effective, community-based psychosocial alternative to the current risky practice of large-dose, long-term treatment with (usually multiple) medications.

Hearing voices peer-support groups offer a safe place for people to share their experiences of voices, visions, tactile sensations and other unusual experiences and perceptions. People meet together to help and support each other, to exchange information, and to learn from one another’s coping strategies. Groups also offer an opportunity for people to accept and “live with voices” in a way that enables them to regain some control over their lives.

The situation in the US stands in striking contrast to that of other countries. For example, England (a country with a population of 60 million) has 180 hearing voices groups, and Denmark (a country of 5 million) has several dozen, whereas the US, with its population of over 300 million, currently has only about 15. The fund will support the development of HVN groups across the US by providing a systematic program of training that will create a network of hearing voices peer-support groups in key centers in each region of the country. Participants will be selected using a rigorous model in which mental health professionals and voice hearers collaborate in an intensive shared learning experience that equips them to apply HVN's concepts and methods to the creation of positive alternatives for people diagnosed with psychosis.

Hearing Voices Research The fund will also support a research study to provide the kinds of basic phenomenological descriptions of the voice hearing experience that have become increasingly essential to other research in this area.

Even though more and more researchers have become interested in investigating the complexities of voice hearing in and of itself (as opposed to treating it simply as one of a number of so-called "positive symptoms" of schizophrenia), the

lack of a clear identification of the defining characteristics and significance of the experience for voice hearers makes it difficult to compare results across different studies. In addition, as colleagues from HVN have highlighted in their work (see references below), there is no evidence for the standard assumption that patients who hallucinate cannot articulate the triggers, contextual variability, or meaning of their experiences. The few phenomenological studies that have been conducted thus far demonstrate clearly that understanding the subjective experience of voice hearers themselves is essential to the ultimate effectiveness of any intervention designed to help them.

For More Information: www.hearing-voices.org www.intervoiceonline.org www.hearingvoicesusa.org www.gailhornstein.com www.jacquidillon.org

Selected References Beavan, V. (2011). Towards a definition of “hearing voices”: A phenomenological approach. Psychosis: Psychological, Social and Integrative Approaches, 3, 63-73.

Dillon, J. (2006, November). Collective voices. Open Mind.

Dillon, J. and E. Longden (2012) Hearing voices groups: Creating safe spaces to share taboo experiences. In M. Romme and S. Escher (eds.), Psychosis as a personal crisis: An experience-based approach. London: Routledge.

Honig, A., M. Romme, B. Ensink, S. Escher, M. Pennings and M. Devries (1998). Auditory hallucinations: A comparison between patients and non-patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 186, 646-651.

Hornstein, G.A. (2009). Agnes's Jacket: A Psychologist's Search for the Meanings of Madness. New York: Rodale Books. (UK edition, with a new introduction, PCCS Books, 2012)

Johns, L.C., J. Y. Nazroo, P. Bebbington and E. Kuipers (2002). Occurrence of hallucinatory experiences in a community sample and ethnic variations. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 174-78.

Lakeman, R. (2002). Making sense of the voices. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 38, 523-531.

Martin, P.J. (2000). Hearing voices and listening to those that hear them. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 7, 135-141.

Romme, M. and S. Escher (1989). Hearing voices. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 15, no. 2, 209-216.

Romme, M. and S. Escher (eds.). (1993; 2nd ed. 1998). Accepting Voices. London: MIND Publications.

Romme, M. and S. Escher (1996). Empowering people who hear voices. In G. Haddock and P. Slade (eds.), Cognitive Behavioral Interventions with Psychotic Disorders. London: Routledge, pp.137-150.

Romme, M. and S. Escher (2000). Making Sense of Voices: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals Working with Voice-Hearers. London: MIND Publications.

Romme, M. and S. Escher (2005). Trauma and hearing voices. In W. Larkin and A. Morrison (eds.) Trauma and Psychosis: New Directions for Theory and Therapy. London: Routledge.

Romme, M., S. Escher, J. Dillon, D. Corstens and M. Morris (eds.). (2009). Living with Voices: 50 Stories of Recovery. Ross-on-Wye, UK: PCCS Books.

Romme, M., A. Honig, E.O. Noorthoorn and S. Escher (1992). Coping with voices: An emancipatory approach. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 99-103.

Sayer, J., S. Ritter and K. Gournay (2000). Beliefs about voices and their effects on coping strategies. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 31, 1199-1205.

$110,000

A good and full description of a fund...

Holistic Healing Fund

What Model of Treatment Provides Better Medical, Financial and Quality of Life Outcomes: Disease Centered Medication Management or Patient Centered Holistic Approach? This fund will support a long-term naturalistic follow up study of patients who failed to respond to the conventional treatment approach by assessing psychiatric and medical symptoms, quality of life and total economic cost of treatment.

Anxiety, Depression and Bipolar Disorder now affect more than 20% of the United States population and the rates are rapidly rising. The commonly held belief is that medication is the most effective therapy to treat these conditions. Indeed antidepressant, antipsychotic and antianxiety medications have become the largest groups of medications sold in the U.S. However, all medications have multiple side effects, short term effectiveness, require life-long maintenance and are very expensive.

The Disease Centered Model (DCM) of Anxiety, Depression and Bipolar Disorders focuses on identifying a particular disease in a patient and applying a specific treatment for a particular condition (usually one or more medications). As the illness progresses or the patient fails to respond, more medications are prescribed-- increasing side effects and treatment cost. There are no effective options to treat those who fail several medications. Treating patients without medications is not an option as well.

The Patient Centered Approach (PCA) has been used for centuries. It looks to restore a patient to health by applying treatments specific to the patient’s imbalances. Treatments are usually low cost, have few if any side effects and require the patient’s active participation in treatment. Medications are usually not part of a long term solution, but can be applied for a short time.

The DCM model, with its tendency to treat a condition aggressively, tends to be very expensive, causes multiple side effects and has a poor track record in treating chronic conditions. The PCA approach usually strives to improve a patient’s long term health, therefore improving symptoms and decreasing the economic cost of treatment. Our study will examine how applying the DCM or PCA treatment model and philosophy will affect a patient’s long term medical, psychiatric and quality of life outcomes and total economic cost of treatment.

This will be the first long term study assessing the medical and economic effectiveness of two different treatment models. It will assist in significantly reducing the cost of treatment, improving the outcome and quality of life for patients suffering from Anxiety, Depression and Bipolar Disorders who failed to respond to conventional treatments.

Michael Gurevich, MD, a psychiatrist at the HolisticMD clinic in Long Island, NY, established the Holistic Healing Fund in 2012.

A more standard format for describing all the individuals associated with various funds should be adopted. Perhaps some of Gurevich’s personal letter from his website would help convey his business...

Mother Bear: Families for Mental Health

Mother Bear Fund

The Mother Bear Fund is dedicated to uniting families to create a new mental health paradigm in which the whole family is supported, recovery is expected, the role of medication is carefully considered, the relationship between mental health and addiction is understood, and hope is encouraged through education about the many pathways to recovery, family-led community support, and access to recovery-oriented providers.

Learn more at www.motherbearcan.org and www.facebook.com/MotherBearCAN.

Could this explanation be extended some more?

------

New Standard of Care Fund

ISEPP's New Standard of Care Fund will support various efforts to find, explore, study, understand and promote safe, humane, life-enhancing approaches to helping persons diagnosed with mental disorders.

In general, this means approaches which do not use psychotropic drugs as the primary modality of treatment but, rather, use drugs very judiciously, for very limited periods of time and only as an adjunct to other forms of treatment.

Examples of such other approaches are various forms of psychotherapy; residences based on the Soteria model; non-drug

help for persons in early psychosis such as the Open Dialogue approach; supported employment, housing and education; support groups such as the Hearing Voices Network; peer support and other recovery-based approaches.

Join the teamFind a therapist

The Open Path Psychotherapy Collective has officially launched!

More on the importance of psychotherapy to recovery, in contrast to the medical model?...

There are many people in need of mental health care who find themselves in a bind: earning too much to qualify for government assistance, and too little to afford a weekly or even every-other-week session with a qualified psychotherapist, psychologist, or social worker. No more. Open Path Psychotherapy Collective will be a network of like-minded mental health clinicians dedicated to reaching those individuals and families who are falling through the cracks. The Collective—with the support of the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care (FEMHC)—will match

participating clinicians with individuals in need of local, in-office mental health care—for a steeply reduced rate.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it is estimated that 48 million Americans suffer from a mental health disorder —4 million of whom are children between the ages of 9 and 17. 90% of people with access to psychotherapeutic services and subsequent treatment, report significant long term improvements. “In the real world, cooperation works

better,” said our former President Bill Clinton recently. Open Path Psychotherapy Collective will bridge the invisible economic gulf between qualified mental health professionals and the Americans who need them.

The Collective is in the first stage of building and designing a website that will provide a searchable, open, and detailed index of psychotherapists, psychologists, and social workers who will join the Open Path Psychotherapy Collective. A strong site built to grow with the needs of the Collective will help attract and retain clinicians committed to the vision of philanthropic psychotherapy and reach a wider swath of individuals in need. Charitable contributions will help build and maintain the site and aid in recruiting and screening qualified mental health clinicians who will be the first members of the Collective. Catching this first wave of clinicians is critical: they will help spread the word among the therapeutic community, stretching the border of the pilot-program in North Carolina outward to the fifty states. Please note the funds raised will go towards building the website and getting an office up and running. Once the connection between client and therapist is made, the client will be responsible for paying the clinician the discounted fee.

Open Path is a partner with Psychotherapy Networker magazine and Goodtherapy.org.

Could this description be more standard to fit the general tone of all the descriptions together?

Paul J. Fink FundSupports the Transformation Project, a mentoring and education program for at-risk street youth in Philadelphia before they encounter a trauma that can lead to mental illness and violent crime.

This needs much more explication. For instance, a paragraph on the likely effects on the mind of urban trauma?...

Is there a direct link implied here between mental illness and violent crime? Is this a correct link?

Who is Paul J. Fink?

Recovery of Community Life through Dialogue Fund

The Recovery of Community Life through Dialogue Fund was established by the Dialogical Recovery Coalition with the leadership of the National Empowerment Center's Executive Director Dr. Dan Fisher, “to create a society which nourishes the life force in each and every living being through dialogical relationships.”

To learn more about the spirit and recovery practices that inform this donor-advised Fund's management, visit the National Empowerment Center website.

More is needed to describe Dr. Fisher’s vision about dialogue, and to relate it to the Open Dialogue approach whence it originates.

How is Dan Fisher? Why is he important?

What means the “recovery of community life”? How is this different than plain old recovery?

If we direct to a people to a website, we should ink them...

RxISK Fund

The RxISK Fund supports the collection, analysis, and publishing of patient data and related narratives of experiences with medications to promote recovery and make medicines safer for all of us through the integration of the best research data with clinical expertise and patient values.

Dr. David Healy and his team promote improved mental, physical, and holistic health and to this end have envisioned: “Data-Based Medicine" which is the integration of the best research data with clinical expertise and patient values.

Fund-Supported ActivitiesMedication safety related activities that the RxISK Fund will support or provide include improved general medication outcomes and patient health by increasing education and awareness for the public through:

• The creation and dissemination of books, publications, and other materials,

• The provision of lectures to professionals, students and the public,

• The offering of expert assessments of new drugs by independent clinicians for licensed and unlicensed indications,

• The analysis of generally patient-reported data relative to medication outcomes,

• The analysis of political, sociological, economic, legal, and regulatory impacts on health,

• The provision of specific educational resources for patients, consumers, and providers of healthcare aimed at alerting them in general to the risks of treatment and risk mitigation strategies,

• Access to instruments to determine the likely success to the public of a treatment program, the impact of treatment drawbacks and the quality of medical care,

• The development of mobile applications for other treatments outlining the merits or drawbacks of treatments. testing procedures, and of diagnoses for doctors and patients, and

• The development of a web-based tool enabling reporting by patients of medication outcomes.

U.S. residents can now make tax deductible donations to this global cause. Most of the fund activities will be carried on by Data Based Medicine Americas Ltd. which operates the global drug safety web site RxISK.org.