AUSTIN, Texas – The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health is pleased to announce that four university departments and one nonprofit organization have each received the Mental Health Recovery-oriented Research in Texas grant. The goal of this grant program is to support research that furthers knowledge of recovery-oriented practices. One condition of the grant is that recipients will include mental health consumers as co-investigators in their research projects, and not just as study subjects.
“Recovery-oriented” is defined as research that uses methodologies and tools that have been informed by lived experience with mental illness and recovery. Crucially, it strongly values the perspective that mental health consumers bring to the research/evaluation enterprise, and will involve consumers in all phases and aspects of the research and/or evaluation process.
“The Hogg Foundation recognizes individuals with lived experience of mental health conditions as having ‘expertise by experience,’ and this grant program puts that principle into practice,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation and associate vice president for diversity and community engagement at The University of Texas at Austin. “The evidence base for recovery-oriented supports such as peer support and person-centered care continues to grow, and we’re happy to contribute to that effort.”
The grants are for one or two years. The five awardees are:
- Community Healthcore ($32,000) – To train a cohort of peers in research methods to study the efficacy of a peer-led, evidence-based trauma treatment.
- Southern Methodist University, Department of Anthropology ($98,400) – To conduct a pilot intervention study of early intervention services with a focus on Latino/a youths with a new-onset psychotic disorder.
- University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences ($66,000) – To develop and validate a measure of self-determined participation in community life from the standpoint of persons with serious illness.
- University of Houston, Graduate College of Social Work ($80,480) – To test the efficacy for older foster youths of “Just Do You,” a recovery-based group intervention designed to promote a positive orientation toward mental health care for young adults.
- University of North Texas, Department of Disability and Addiction Rehabilitation ($59,000) – To conduct a mixed-methods study of the relationship between self-determination theory and vocational rehabilitation in the mental health recovery process.
The Hogg Foundation advances recovery and wellness in Texas by funding mental health services, policy analysis, research and public education. The foundation was created in 1940 by the children of former Texas Gov. James S. Hogg and is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin.