Three-year Statewide Family Network award will expand family support and leadership in behavioral health policy and services
Maryland Coalition of Families (MCF) has received a three-year Statewide Family Network grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to strengthen its statewide work connecting families to support and ensuring their lived experience helps shape behavioral health policy and services.
Serving all 24 Maryland jurisdictions, MCF brings together family peer support, education, and advocacy to help families navigate behavioral health challenges and improve the systems they rely on. The award will build on that work, expanding opportunities for parents, caregivers, and young adults to inform decisions about how services are designed and delivered.
“Families know firsthand where services are working, where barriers persist, and what needs to change,” said Karen Duffy, Executive Director of Maryland Coalition of Families. “Their experience should help shape the decisions Maryland makes about behavioral health care. This investment will strengthen MCF’s work connecting families across the state and ensuring their voices carry weight in those decisions.”
Through the initiative, MCF will expand family peer support, outreach, and help navigating services; provide training that prepares caregivers and young adults to take on leadership and advocacy roles; and strengthen partnerships that bring families, service providers, and policymakers together.
The initiative will also address the needs of young adults ages 18–26 transitioning from youth-serving systems to adult care, as well as service members, veterans, and military families.
SAMHSA’s Statewide Family Network program supports statewide family-controlled organizations in strengthening support, training, and mentoring for families and caregivers raising children and young people with mental health challenges.