Permanent Supportive Housing Tool Kit

SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (SAMHSA)

Westat designed and developed SAMHSA's award-winning Permanent Supportive Housing tool kit, which is available on their website to download and can be ordered in hard copy. It won the Best of Show award at the Society of Technical Communication's (STC) international summit competition for “emphasizing important information in an interesting and appealing fashion, with beautifully written text that truly meets audience needs.”

In 2010, as part of the Knowledge Application Program (KAP), SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), released the permanent supportive housing (PSH) tool kit, which includes eight documents that provide the foundation for establishing and maintaining a successful PSH program. The kit discusses how to develop new programs within mental health systems that are grounded in evidence-based practices.

Westat crafted the strategy to meet the needs of various audiences and committed to telling the story of supported housing in ways that were interesting and informative and included many real-world examples.

The kit has a broad audience of stakeholders from public mental health authorities to service practitioners to service consumers to their families and supporters. The kit provides information and a wide variety of educational materials for all stakeholder groups.

In addition to the Best of Show award, the kit won the Distinguished Award from the STC Washington, DC Chapter.