The Trust Small Project Grant Application

    Organization Information


Tax ID 
The federal tax ID number of your organization. 

 		550805233 
Organization Name 
The name of the organization submitting this application 

 		Law Project For Psychiatric Rights Inc 
Street Address 
Please enter the information for the physical address of the organization. 

 		406 G Street
Suite 206


 
City 

 		Anchorage 
State 

 		Alaska 
Zip/Postal Code 

 		99501 
Address mailing 
Please enter the information for the mailing address of the organization. 

 		406 G Street, Suite 206 
City mailing 

 		Anchorage 
State Mailing 

 		Alaska 
Zip/Postal Code Mailing 

 		99501 
Main Phone Number 

 		907/274-7686 
Main Fax Number 

 		907/274-9493 

    Project Manager Information


Prefix 
(Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. etcetera) 

 		Mr. 
First Name 
Project manager's first name 

 		Jim 
Last Name 
Project manager's last name 

 		Gottstein 
Suffix 

 		 
Title 
Project manager's title 

 		President 
Office Phone 
Project manager's phone number 

 		907/274-7686 
Office Fax 
Project manager's fax number 

 		907/274-7686 
E-mail 
Project manager's e-mail address 

 		jim@psychrights.org 
Financial Manager 
If applicable, first and last name of the organizations financial manager - or person who handles fiscal issues 

 		Jim Gottstein 

    Summary Details


Request Date 

 		January 31, 2006 
Request Amount 
The amount being requested from The Trust. 

 		$10,000 
Short Project Title 
Please limit to one sentance. 

 		Beneficiary Representation Expenses


 

    Project Description / Outcomes


Brief Description of Project 
2-3 sentance description of the project. What are you going to do and how? (In this, and the sections below, you may cut and paste) 

 		This project is to provide direct legal representation costs (non-attorney fee) funding for Trust Beneficiaries. These would include such items as filing fees, service fees, Westlaw, malpractice insurance, copy charges, deposition and transcriptions fees, etc.

Since it is contemplated that all the attorney time will be provided pro bono, these representation funds will leverage attorney fees by probably ten to twenty times or more.



 
Why is this Project Needed? 
Please explain the need for this project 

 		Currently, involuntary commitment and forced psychiatric drugging are by far the "path of least resistance," in dealing with Trust Beneficiaries who come to the attention of authorities due to disturbed or disturbing behavior. Unfortunately, these approaches are at least doubling the number of the Trust's Beneficiaries who do not recover after being diagnosed with serious mental illness. See, e.g., Anatomy of an Epidemic: Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, which has been uploaded in support of this application. This is both a huge amount of unnecessary human suffering and unnecessary expense. The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights) is mounting a serious, strategic legal effort against what it sees is a largely unconstitutional (illegal) involuntary commitment and forced drugging system. This is part of a coordinated effort to bring about meaningful change to the mental health system, including fostering the availability of much more helpful choices for the Trust's Beneficiaries. The two papers uploaded in support of this application go into this in quite some depth. While PsychRights has been moderately successful in raising private donations, its efforts are national in scope and the requested funds are needed if the Trust wants to ensure such funds are available for its Beneficiaries.



 
Direct / Indirect Benefits 
Please identify direct and indirect benefits to Trust beneficiaries and across-beneficiary groups 

 		The direct benefits are (1) the vigorous representation that individual Beneficiaries will receive, and (2) the potential precedential effect that will benefit all Beneficiaries facing involuntary commitment and forced drugging proceedings. The indirect benefits are potentially huge as this effort is part of the multifaceted grass roots efforts to change Alaska's mental health system to one of recovery, rather than permanent disability. To summarize these indirect benefits they are substantially increasing the number Trust Beneficiaries diagnosed with serious mental illness who fully recover. It appears that at least half of those who currently become labeled chronically mentally ill (or "seriously and persistently mentally ill") could avoid this fate if given other options. Since the current lack of such other options is illegal (unconstitutional) with respect to forced drugging, but the lack of any real representation of Trust Beneficiaries in these proceedings has made involuntary commitment and forced drugging the "path of least resistance," to the extent that PsychRights' legal efforts make it enough harder to force drug people, it will encourage the availability of more helpful approaches that so often lead to recovery. See Report on Multi-Faceted Grass-Roots Efforts To Bring About Meaningful Change To Alaska's Mental Health Program, which has been uploaded in support of this application for more detail on this.



 
Number of Beneficiaries to be Served 
Please detail how many Trust beneficiaries will benefit from this project 

 		There are a number of different levels to answer this question. First, since each case taken is done so very vigorously and there is a limited amount of attorney time available, it is likely that 5 to 15 Beneficiaries will be directly reprsented. However, to the extent that favorable precedent(s) is established and such precedent is actually complied with, the approximately 1,300 Beneficiaries each year who are incarcerated at API and forced to take drugs they don't want will be served.



 
Organization Qualifications 
Please detail the qualifications of your organization to carry out this project 

 		PsychRights is a 501(c)(3)tax-exempt nonprofit corporation operating as a public interest law firm. Its president, Jim Gottstein, is well-qualified as set forth in the short bio uploaded in support of this application.



 
Expected Outcomes 
What are you going to accomplish? The proposed deliverables detailed here will be used by Trust staff to evaluate the project 

 		We expect to represent certain Trust Beneficiaries very vigorously in asserting their rights with good prospects in each such case. We also hope to establish good legal precedents.



 
Exit Strategy 
Please select the appropriate exit strategy. 

 		Other
      - Select One -		 
Exit Strategy Narrative 
If the exit strategy is not project completion, please detail the proposed exit strategy. 

 		PsychRights received a previous Small Project Grant in July of 2003, for essentially the same work in the amount of $10,000, which has just been closed out. PsychRights applied for a Trust Beneficiary Group Initiative grant last June to fund an attorney and assistant position as well as the types of funding requested here. This was unsuccessful and this grant is requested to ensure the continuation of availability of funds for such representation expenses for Trust Beneficiaries until the cycle for the next TBGI RFP process comes around.






 
Is this request designed to replace existing funds? If so, please explain how you will continue this project after Trust funds are spent. Remember Trust small project grants are one-time funding only. 

 		PsychRights has been moderately successful in private fundraising, as demonstrated by the Donations Summary uploaded in support of this application. However, inasmuch as PsychRights' efforts are national in scope these funds are not targeted at the Trust's Beneficiaries. Thus, if the Trust wants to ensure the availability of funding for these types of representation expenses for its Beneficiaries, the requested grant should be awarded. It is recognized this is essentially a request for a second SPF grant for these purposes, but it seemed worthwhile to at least give the Trust this opportunity to provide this funding.







 

    Budget


Project Budget 
The total amount of the budget for the project including the requested amount from The Trust and ALL other sources of funding. 

 		$160,000 
Personnel Services Amount 
Amount of requested funds for personnel services from The Trust. 

 		0 
Personnel Services Other 
Amount of Personnel Services costs to be paid from other fund sources. 

 		0 
Contracted Services 
Amount of request for services through contracts from Trust funds. 

 		0 
Contracted Services Other 
Amount of other funds for contracted services. 

 		0 
Professional Services 
Amount of requested funds for other professional services from Trust. 

 		0 
Professional Services/Other 
Professional services amounts from other fund sources. 

 		$150,000 
Administrative Services 
Amount of Administrative services requested from Trust funds. 

 		0 
Administrative Other 
Amount of Administrative costs funded from other sources. 

 		0 
Space or Facilities 
Amount of funds from Trust for space or facilities costs. 

 		0 
Space or Facilities Other 
Amount of Space or facilities costs funded from other sources. 

 		0 
Equipment 
Amount of Equipment cost requested from Trust. 

 		0 
Equipment Other 
Amount of Equipment costs to be funded from other sources. 

 		0 
Travel 
Amount of Travel costs requested from Trust. 

 		0 
Travel Other 
Amount of Travel costs to be funded by other sources. 

 		0 
Communications 
Amounts requested for phone, web sites, other communications activities from The Trust. 

 		0 
Communications Other 
Amount of Communications activities to be funded by other sources. 

 		0 
Publicity or Publications 
Amount requested for publicity or publication to be funded by Trust. 

 		0 
Publicity or Publications Other 
Amount of publicity or publications to funded by other sources. 

 		0 
Promotion 
Amount requested for Promotional activities to be funded by Trust. 

 		0 
Promotion Other 
Promotion activities to be funded by other sources. 

 		0 
Other Costs 
Amount of requested others costs to be funded by Trust. 

 		$10,000 
Other Costs/Other 
Amount of other costs to be funded by other sources. 

 		0 
Total Costs 
Total amount of request for Trust funds. 

 		$10,000 
Total Costs/Other 
Total amount of other funds for project. 

 		$150,000 

    Budget Narrative


Budget Narrative - Summary 
Please explain important details of your budget request and how your budget relates to your project plan. 

 		The requested funds of $10,000 for representation expenses are to complement the donated (pro bono) legal services contemplated to be rendered in the range of $100,000 - $200,000.






 
Budget Narrative - Personnel Servicers 
If applicable, detail who will be employed, how much they will be paid, basic benefit costs etc. 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Contracted Services 
If applicable, detail who will be contracted and for what services 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Administrative Costs 
If applicable, detail all administrative costs 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Space or Facilities 
If applicable, give the details of the space and/or facility, what it will be used for, and the cost associated with the location 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Equipment 
If applicable, explain the specifics on what equipment will be purchased or rented and the cost for each piece of equipment 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Travel 
If applicable, detail who will travel where, when, and for how long. Break down the travel costs by airfare, hotel, per diem, training/conference fees, and other expenses 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Communications 
If applicable, be specific about costs for telephone or other communication needs (ex: internet access) 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Publicity/Publications 
If applicable, be specific about what type, how often, how many, by whom etc. 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Promotion 
If applicable, be specific about the details of the promotion activity and how the costs break down for each 

 		N/A




 
Budget Narrative - Other Costs 
If applicable, explain any costs that do not fit under the other categories. This might include program supplies or food. Detail what will be purchased, how it will be purchased, and relate it to the project plan and activities. 

 		$10,000 for representation costs, such as filing fees, service fees, deposition costs, transcription costs, copy charges, Westlaw and malpractice insurance, etc.




 

    Coding


Focus Area 
Please select the focus area to which this request pertains. If none, leave blank. 

 		Trust Beneficiary Group Initiatives 
Geographical Area Served 
Please select the geographical area in which this project will occur. 

 		Urban 
Population Served 
Please select one or more beneficiary groups benefiting from this project. 

 		Mentally Ill
      - Select One -
         - Select One -		 
Request Type/Status 

 		Small Project 
1 Comp Plan Indicator Area 

 		Comp Plan-Living with Dignity
      Comp Plan-Health
         Comp Plan-Safety
            - Select One -
               - Select One -
                  - Select One -
                     - Select One -
                        - Select One -
                           - Select One -
                              - Select One -		 

    Attachments

  
 TitleFile Name
 How the Legal System Can Help Create a Recovery Culture in Mental Health SystemsRoleofLitigation.pdf
 Report on Multi-Faceted Grass-Roots Efforts To Bring About Meaningful Change To Alaska's Mental HealAKEfforts.pdf
 Jim Gottstein BioGottstein.htm
 Donations SummaryDonations.htm
 Anatomy of an Epidemic: Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in AmericaEHPPPsychDrugEpidemic(Whitaker).pdf