[NYAPRS Enews] DSG Releases RFP for Recovery to Practice Curriculum Development

Mon Nov 30 09:38:25 EST 2009

NYAPRS Note: While this RFP applies only to national organizations, we believe that our readers will find it provides more details about this very promising and timely initiative for which NYAPRS is pleased to be a partner.

  REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Recovery to Practice (RTP)

Mental Health Professions Curriculum Development Subcontracts

by

Development Services Group, Inc.,

Under Contract to the 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Center for Mental Health Services

Associate Director for Consumer Affairs

Schedule

                             November 23, 2009:       Request for proposals issued

December 8, 2009:         Bidders' Teleconference, 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST

January 15, 2010:           Deadline for receipt of proposals

                             March 1, 2010:               Awardees notified

PURPOSE

Five 5-year subcontracts, each valued at $350,000, will be awarded to national mental health professional organizations to develop and implement training curricula that promote greater awareness, acceptance, and adoption of mental health recovery principles and practices among mental health providers.

To reach and affect the greatest number of mental health service providers, especially those in the public sector, Development Services Group, Inc., (DSG), will award these five subcontracts-one each to a national membership organization that consists of and serves the following mental health providers:

1.	Psychiatrists 
2.	Psychologists 
3.	Psychiatric nurses 
4.	Social workers 
5.	Other mental health providers (e.g., marriage and family therapists, licensed professional counselors, peer support specialists, psychiatric rehabilitation providers, pastoral counselors) 

BACKGROUND

Over the past decade, mental health recovery has emerged as a unifying paradigm for both individuals living with mental illnesses and those services systems-including mental health providers-that support such individuals to live meaningful lives in their communities.

Emerging from mental health consumer writings and experiences, mental health recovery was acknowledged as a key concept in the 1999 U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health. In 2003, the Final Report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health-Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America-states that recovery should be the goal for all mental health services. The Commission put forward six goals to transform the Nation's mental health system, including that mental health care should be consumer and family driven. The overall vision of the Commission states the following:

To improve access to quality care and services, the Commission recommends fundamentally transforming how mental health care is delivered in America. The Goal of a Transformed System: Recovery. Successfully transforming the mental health service delivery system rests on two principles: First, services and treatments must be consumer and family centered, geared to give consumers real and meaningful choices about treatment options and providers-not oriented to the requirements of bureaucracies. Second, care must focus on increasing consumers' ability to successfully cope with life's challenges, on facilitating recovery, and on building resilience, not just on managing symptoms.

Further, the mission of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-the Federal Government's lead agency to improve mental health services-is to facilitate recovery and promote resiliency to enable a life in the community for everyone.

To help bring clarity to the evolving concepts and practices of recovery, SAMHSA and the Interagency Committee on Disability Research, in partnership with six other Federal agencies, convened the National Consensus Conference on Mental Health Recovery and Mental Health Systems Transformation on December 16-17, 2004. The following consensus statement was derived from expert panelist deliberations on the findings:

Mental health recovery is a journey of healing and transformation enabling a person with a mental health problem to live a meaningful life in a community of his or her choice while striving to achieve his or her full potential.

The following 10 Fundamental Components of Recovery were identified:

1.	Self-direction 
2.	Individualized and person centered 
3.	Empowerment 
4.	Holistic 
5.	Nonlinear 
6.	Strengths based 
7.	Peer support 
8.	Respect 
9.	Responsibility 
10.	Hope 

To view the complete statement, see http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/sma05-4129/.

This project will use the consensus statement as the guiding definition and conceptualization of mental health recovery. Recovery-oriented practices-such as person-centered planning, shared decision-making, advance directives, supported employment and housing, wellness recovery action plan (WRAP), peer support and others-have also been developed. Despite limited efforts to encourage a shift toward a recovery-based system, progress has been slow and uneven, especially among practicing mental health professionals. Even now many have not been exposed to recovery, and only some of those who have been exposed are pursuing recovery practice. Those who are working actively on transformation encounter substantial funding and administrative systemic barriers. Most professional educational institutions have yet to include recovery in their curriculum.

On October 1, 2009, SAMHSA launched Recovery to Practice (RTP), a 5-year initiative to broaden and increase awareness, acceptance, and adoption of recovery principles and practices among mental health providers.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Only national membership organizations that consist of, serve, educate, and represent one of the following five categories of mental health professionals are eligible to apply for Recovery to Practice curriculum development subcontracts: 

1.	Psychiatrists 
2.	Psychologists 
3.	Psychiatric nurses 
4.	Social workers 
5.	Other mental health providers (e.g., marriage and family therapists, licensed professional counselors, peer support specialists, psychiatric rehabilitation providers, pastoral counselors) 

Separate competitions for one subcontract will be conducted for each of the five categories of professionals. All applicants must specify in a cover letter which of the five professional competitions they wish to be considered for.

EXPECTATIONS OF AWARDEES

Each of the five subcontract awardees will accomplish the following tasks over the 5-year period of their subcontract:

Year 1       Preparation of a Situational Assessment and Analysis of Current Recovery Practices among Mental Health Providers, Systems, and Training Institutions

Plan for Identification of Curriculum Development Needs and Strategies in Years 2-3

Year 2       Development of Initial Recovery Curriculum

Year 3       Additional Development and Field Testing of Recovery Curriculum

Year 4       Dissemination, Marketing, and Implementation of Recovery Curriculum Among Mental Health Providers, Systems, and Professional Training Institutions

Year 5       Training and Assessment of Curriculum Impact on Professional and System Policies, Procedures, and Practices and Development of Sustainability Strategies            

This request for proposals asks applicants to describe in detail how they will accomplish Year 1 Situational Assessment and Analysis and Curriculum Planning tasks. After Year 1 of the subcontract, awardees will submit annual work plans to DSG and SAMHSA for review and approval.

Acceptance of a subcontract by successful applicants will be viewed as a commitment to participate in all 5 years of the RTP initiative and to complete successfully all required subcontract tasks. 

Organizations selected to receive an RTP project subcontract will be expected to participate in the following activities during the course of the project:

·         One annual face-to-face meeting with the RTP project team in Washington, D.C.

·         Quarterly teleconference calls with other RTP subcontractors to exchange information on project implementation and challenges

·         Quarterly reports on activities, task accomplishments, and challenges

·         Every 6 weeks, a telephone call and consultation with the RTP project director and deputy project director

RTP subcontract awardees will also be expected to contribute materials collected and produced to the RTP Resource Center - a centralized clearinghouse for information on mental health recovery.

Table 1. Number and Amount of Contract Awards

Number of subcontract awards 

5 (one for each profession: psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, other mental health providers [i.e., marriage and family therapists, licensed professional counselors, peer specialists, psychiatric rehabilitation])

Duration of subcontract awards

5 years (initial proposal covers Year 1 tasks and commits awardees to 5-year initiative; annual work plans required for Years 2-5)

Amount of subcontract awards

$70,000 per year x 5 years = $350,000

DEADLINE FOR APPLYING

The deadline for submission of proposals (document form or electronic submission) is January 15, 2010. Proposals received by DSG after 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 15 will not be considered.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Proposals may be submitted electronically or in hardcopy document form. Proposals submitted electronically should be sent by January 15, 2010, 5:00 p.m. EST to        RecoverytopracticeRFP at dsgonline.com 

If an applicant chooses to submit a proposal in hardcopy document form, one original and two copies of the proposal must be received at the following address on or before the January 15 deadline:

             Development Services Group, Inc.

            7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 800 East

            Bethesda, MD 20814

            Attention: Recovery to Practice

PROPOSAL FORMAT AND CONTENT REQUIREMENTS

Proposals must be prepared on standard 8½" x 11" paper with 1-inch margins on all four sides using a standard font (Times New Roman or Arial) and in 12-point type. Each proposal should include a transmittal letter on organization stationery signed by the organization's top operating official. The transmittal letter should indicate in which category of competition (one of the five listed professional groups) the applicant wishes to be considered. All pages of the proposal must have page numbers starting with the table of contents as Page 1. Proposal narratives shall be no more than 15 pages in length.

CONTENT OF NARRATIVE 

Applicants are required to fully respond to seven required elements in their proposals: Experience, Approach, Work Plan, Consumer Involvement, Partnerships, Staffing and Management, and Budget. Proposals will be evaluated on the quality of information presented in each element. A maximum of 100 points will be awarded. The number of points assigned to each element is listed below. 

1. Experience (10 points)

Applicants must describe how their national provider organization has reacted to, and participated in, mental health recovery transformation efforts to date. Please describe if and how the leadership and membership of the national organization has adopted an official position on recovery. Indicate if and how the national organization actively promotes recovery principles and practices among its members, including inclusion of recovery presentations at organizational meetings and conferences, organizational publications, professional training programs, continuing education programs, and other professional enrichment activities. 

2. Approach (40 points)

Applicants are asked to describe the methods for accomplishing the following:

Task 1. Research and Analysis

Each of the five mental health provider organizations receiving subcontracts will research and prepare a national assessment of the current status of recovery principles and practices within their profession (including but not limited to members or activities of their organization). Assessment issues are presented in the form of questions and are to be addressed during the 1st year of the subcontract. 

Information collected and analyzed during Year 1 of subcontracts will provide a strong foundation in Years 2-5 for developing, marketing, and securing the adoption of effective, needs-based recovery curricula and ongoing training and technical assistance among mental health providers, professional educators, mental health systems administrators, and program managers. 

Applicants must describe the methods for assessing the following: 

·         How knowledgeable are members of your profession with the concept of mental health recovery? Are members of your profession aware of and have they utilized mental health recovery-oriented practices? If so, how and why did they get involved, and what are the practices utilized?

·         What has been the response of your members to recovery? Have your members experienced challenges at implementing recovery practice? 

·         What preexisting personal and professional knowledge and practices have your members built recovery practices on?

·         What is the current extent of training among members of your profession on mental health recovery and recovery-oriented practices?

·         Are there training materials on recovery and recovery-oriented practices that have been developed?

·         Do your organization's conferences and meetings include presentations on recovery or recovery-oriented practices?

·         Do your profession's journals include information on recovery and recovery-oriented practices? 

·         Do State licensure or certification requirements for your profession include items regarding mental health recovery and recovery-oriented practices?

·         What are some of the barriers and opportunities to increase the training and knowledge base of members of your mental health profession on recovery and recovery-oriented practices?

·         What are some of the personal and professional benefits your members have experienced by adopting recovery-based practices?

Subcontractors will review and analyze information collected during their research in response to the above questions, and prepare and submit a situational analysis to DSG within 10 months of the beginning of the subcontract that summarizes Task 1 findings regarding the current status of knowledge and utilization of recovery principles and practices among their respective mental health professions, educators, and training programs.

Task 2. Curriculum Development Planning for Years 2 and 3

Based on the Situational Analyses described above, applicants will develop a plan for curriculum development and pilot testing for Years 2 and 3 of the subcontract. The plan should be submitted to DSG during Month 11 of Year 1 and include the following elements:

*	What training materials need to be developed? 
*	What will be the process for developing materials? 
*	How will materials be evaluated during their development? 

Additionally, the curriculum development and pilot testing plan should incorporate the following important concepts:

1.   Recovery is relationship based. The individual relationship between the mental health professional and the person he or she is serving is the basis of how services are delivered. The 10 values of the SAMSHA consensus statement become real within the context of the treatment relationship. How are treatment relationships changing to operationalize those 10 values? 

2.   Recovery concentrates on integrating services that help people find hope and strength within themselves to overcome their illnesses and rebuild their lives. Some of these services, such as shared decision-making and advance directives, are done individually by the provider. Others, such as supported employment and peer support, are integrated into the team and program. How are recovery-based services learned, practiced, and integrated? 

3.	Recovery is a paradigm shift. That shift has been expressed in various ways, including shifting from an illness-centered emphasis to a person-centered emphasis, from treating illnesses to helping people. This paradigm shift is well under way as we start trying to figure out how our treatments can support people's recoveries instead of trying to figure out how recovery can support our treatments. How is the underlying paradigm shift expressed and reflected by individual practitioners and by the profession overall? 

Task 3. Training, Marketing, and Education

The ultimate goal of this project is to create a set of training materials that contribute to bringing recovery practice into the mainstream of professional practice. For these training materials to become an important tool in that transformation, they need to reflect an understanding of the professionals targeted for the curricula, their reactions to recovery, their challenges in implementing recovery practices, and the context in which they learn and practice. Recovery must be seen as bringing together professionals and the people they serve with common purpose.

The proposal should address the methods in each step in the process: 1) outreach and engagement, 2) building motivation, 3) accessible, applicable training, 4) building sustainability, and 5) system and infrastructure change to facilitate recovery training and practice. Include these specific elements: 

*	How can educational institutions incorporate recovery and recovery-based practices? 
*	How can professional journals fully include recovery and recovery-based practices? 
*	How can professional conferences include recovery and recovery-based practices? 
*	How can these principles and practices be made most likely to appeal to professionals and then be applied by them and benefit them in their work? 
*	What factors in the members' work could be addressed to increase the likelihood of application of these principles and practices? 

3. Work Plan (10 Points)

Applicants are asked to submit a draft work plan for Year 1 of the subcontract that describes specific action steps to be completed to accomplish Tasks 1-3, staff responsible for each action step, and a schedule for action step completion. Please use Table 2 to present your draft work plan.

Table 2. Work Plan

Task and Subtask

Action Step

Responsible Staff

Completion Date

(by month)

4. Consumer Involvement (20 Points)     

Applicants are required to involve consumers of mental health services in the design and implementation of all activities funded by the 5-year subcontracts. Please describe how your professional organization will identify, recruit, and involve consumers and consumer organizations in all aspects of the subcontract, including all tasks to be completed in Year 1. Indicate how your organization will facilitate its participation in decision-making regarding subcontract emphases, processes, and report content (i.e., membership on workgroups or steering committees, solicited input in the design of information collection procedures and instruments, analyses of information collected during Task 1, recommendations regarding the emphasis, content, and development and implementation of professional training curricula planned for Years 2-3 of the subcontract). Please indicate whether the applicant intends to hire consumers or use mental health consumers already on the staff of its professional organization.

5. Partnerships (5 Points)

Professional organizations awarded subcontracts are expected to work together and with the overall RTP project team-SAMHSA, DSG project managers and staff, consultants, and organizational partners (Annapolis Coalition, Mental Health America of Los Angeles, Mental Health America, National Development and Research Institutes, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services)-to enrich the products and to ensure easy sharing and maximum utilization of knowledge and information that is collected, generated, and disseminated by the professional curriculum subcontracts and the Recovery to Practice Resource Center. Information collected and analyzed by professional organization subcontractors for the purpose of developing effective curricula will also be useful to those on the Recovery to Practice project team responsible for the creation and operation of the RTP Resource Center. Information collected by subcontractors on the status of recovery concepts among key mental health professionals, the delivery systems in which they practice, and among institutions that train those professionals will help Resource Center staff identify priority needs for recovery information development and dissemination "in the field." By the end of the 5 years, we hope to have forged lasting partnerships, both inside and outside the RTP project, which will sustain recovery transformation.

Please describe how your organization envisions partnering and coordinating with others engaged in the Recovery to Practice initiative, with special emphasis on how your organization might wish to contribute to, and benefit from, all aspects of initiative recovery knowledge collection, generation, and dissemination (i.e., Web site development and operations, Webinars, preparation and dissemination of special recovery reports and monographs, electronic data sharing and dialogues among mental health professionals, educators, administrators, and consumers).

6. Staff and Management Plan (10 Points)

Identify staff to be assigned to the subcontract during Year 1, their anticipated titles and responsibilities, the amount of time each will devote to the subcontract activities (percentage of FTE), and how they relate to one another and to the staff/leadership of your professional organization. Attach to your proposal résumés (as an appendix, not to be included in the page count) for all individuals identified to work on the subcontract.

Please include a management plan to indicate who will be responsible for programmatic and fiscal oversight of the subcontract.

7. Budget (5 Points)

Please submit a budget narrative for the 1st year of the subcontract. The total budget for the 1st year may not exceed $70,000. The budget narrative should describe anticipated expenditures for personnel (including salaries and fringe benefits as applicable), equipment and supplies, contractual costs, and travel. Applicants should budget travel costs for one person to attend a 1-day meeting in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area during Year 1 of the contract.

INFORMATION CONTACT 

If you have questions or seek additional information about this competition or the Recovery to Practice initiative, please email recoverytopracticeRFP at dsgonline.com or call 877-584-8535. Technical questions must be submitted in writing, in order for all responses to be shared with all bidders. Responses to questions will be provided during the Bidders' Teleconference, scheduled for Tuesday, December 8, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST. If you would like to register for the teleconference, email your name, title, and organization to the same email address.

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