Created under the McKinney Act, The PATH Program, is a formula grant program that funds the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and four U.S. Territories to support service delivery to individuals with serious mental illnesses, as well as individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders, who are homeless or at risk of becoming home-less.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides technical assistance to states and local providers funded by the PATH program. This includes on-site consultation, collection of annual reporting data, the development of an annual report to Congress, holding bi-annual meetings of PATH contacts, and identifying and disseminating best practices from the program. This site contains useful resources generated by the PATH program.

Consumer Involvement Report

View Report In: PDF | HTML

Audio Files

Ann Denton WMA | MP3
Gary Shaheen WMA | MP3

In early 2003, the PATH Consumer Involvement Workgroup, under the leadership of Charles Bliss of Georgia’s Division of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Addictive Diseases, began meeting to gather and develop:

Data and information on what States are currently doing to employ consumers in PATH programs

A description of PATH programs that are considered exemplary in this regard

An examination of issues related to consumer employment, including advantages, challenges, and strategies

Recommendations for employing mental health consumers in PATH programs

The PATH Consumer Involvement Workgroup’s guiding vision was to encourage PATH programs to employ mental health consumers with homelessness experience as direct care staff.

This report represents the results of the workgroup’s findings. All views expressed are those of the workgroup members and do not represent the official position of any government agency or other organization. Readers are encouraged to contact the exemplary programs for further details and to consult the extensive list of resources at the end of the report.