The National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse

Clearinghouse programs and services have been guided by the tenets of the mental health self-help movement to advance and defend consumer independence, self-determination, responsibility, choice, respect, and dignity, and to promote recovery. The Clearinghouse serves as a vital national consumer technical assistance center that provides information, resources, and hands-on training to constituents in every region of the country. It responds to requests from individual consumers, family members, mental health professionals, researchers, and other constituents; develops and disseminates informational resources – including a monthly e-newsletter called the Key Update and a quarterly technical assistance bulletin called the Key Assistance Report as well as a variety of resources available on its Web site, http://www.mhselfhelp.org – to support the technical assistance and organizational development needs of individual consumers and consumer organizations across the United States; collaborates with the University of Pennsylvania to develop practical tools to promote consumers’ full participation in the community; provides technical assistance to help behavioral health systems in multiple states to incorporate Certified Peer Specialists into service infrastructures; facilitates national conferences; and is providing in-depth, ongoing technical assistance and support to build strong consumer movements in several states. In short, the Clearinghouse, in concert with the other national consumer technical assistance centers, is making progress in building a network of informed and empowered consumers who are shaping behavioral health policy, practices, and programs in communities across the United States.