KU News Release

KU program that provides psychiatric services in Kansas earns national honor

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas program that provides education and employment training throughout the state for individuals who have experienced a severe psychiatric disability is being recognized on the national level.

The Consumers as Providers Training Program, or CAP, received a 2007 Eli Lilly Reintegration Award. The program won first place in the vocational category. CAP, part of the KU School of Social Welfare’s Office of Mental Health Training and Research, will receive the award and $5,000 to advance its efforts Oct. 26 in Indianapolis, Ind.

CAP provides help for individuals throughout Kansas who receive services from community mental health agencies for severe and persistent mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The program partners with local mental health agencies to offer a two-semester training program. CAP is also a Kansas Certified Peer Specialist Training Program.

Offering classes at area post-secondary education sites such as universities, community colleges and vocational schools, the program is divided into two parts. The first is 15 weeks of classroom instruction. Students meet for three hours once a week in a class based on the textbook “The Strengths Model” by Charles A. Rapp, professor of social welfare, and Richard J. Goscha, trainer of social welfare, both at KU. The second phase is an internship. For seven weeks, students are paired with a mentor and work at local service agencies, such as community mental health providers, Area Agencies on Aging or Social and Rehabilitative Services offices. The students and mentors receive supervision from the CAP program coordinator.

“The idea of the program is to get people back on college campuses to potentially pursue an academic or vocational dream,” said Anna Collins, CAP program coordinator and trainer. “Our thought is ‘let’s find opportunities in the community for individuals who experience a severe psychiatric disability.’ ”

Individuals often experience mental illness for the first time when they are entering college or post-secondary education. The experience commonly causes people to withdraw from school and employment.

The program, which began in 1999, has expanded to teach community mental health agencies to replicate the training on their own. Collins and staff in the Supported Education Group, a division of KU’s School of Social Welfare, train individuals in communities to offer the course on their own after working with KU. So far, the program has been replicated in Independence, Coffeyville, Manhattan and Topeka. Educational institutions throughout the state have provided free use of classroom and teleconferencing capabilities to support the program. Fort Hays State University, Barton County Community College, Garden City Community College and Cloud County Community College are among the institutions that have hosted the program through teleconferencing.

This year’s award is the second time CAP has been lauded by Eli Lilly and Co. The pharmaceutical company offers the awards to recognize “outstanding achievements of people and programs that provide the necessary support for those with schizophrenia and related disorders to reintegrate into their communities.” In 2003, CAP won Lilly’s Keep Learning Award for innovative programs. In 2004, the program won the $10,000 Thomas M. Wernert Award, given by the Technical Assistance Collaborative and the Lovell Foundation in collaboration with the National Association of County Behavioral Health Directors.

The program uses the prize money to fund five $500 “Building a Future, Supported Education” scholarships. Two go to individuals in CAP, two to individuals in statewide leadership capacities and one to a student who has completed the Student Success Training Program. The program also funds a $250 returning recipient scholarship. The scholarships are also funded by proceeds from the book “Pathways to Recovery: A Strengths Recovery Self-Help Workbook,” developed by the Supported Education Group.

CAP has hosted more than 25 classes at 13 locations throughout Kansas, and more than 270 people have graduated.

The program’s success has led Iowa and Arizona to implement programs based on CAP. The program has recently concluded a two-year research project to measure its effectiveness. Researchers found that 28 percent of individuals who participated were involved in vocational activities before taking part in CAP. Fifty-five percent were employed at six-month, one-year and two-year intervals after the program. Fifteen percent of the same group was involved in a post-secondary educational program before CAP, and 30 percent had gone back to school after the program in the same intervals.

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