PLATINUM2021

FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE, INC

Accelerating the world's transition to excellent mental health care Edit Page

aka OPEN EXCELLENCE   |   Wilsonville, OR   |  openexcellence.org

Mission

Open Excellence is the next generation community foundation; global in scope and focused exclusively on improving mental health outcomes. With a strong, diverse board of eminent researchers, people with lived experience, philanthropists and an intellectually rich Scientific Advisory Council, Open Excellence gives donors large and small the opportunity to make an impact by supporting recovery-oriented research, developing family and community education resources that spread hope and knowledge about recovery practices, and by supporting professional symposia and learning collaboratives that will begin to shift the field’s mindset from the chronic disease model to one that expects recovery for every person with mental health challenges.

Notes from the nonprofit

We aim to change the current standard of care in mental health. We lead with a world renowned scientific advisory committee and people with lived experience who inform us "what works and what doesn't work". One size doesn't fit all in treatment. We want to give people all the tools we have in the world. We do expect recovery!

Ruling year info

2011

President & CEO

Seana O'Callaghan

Main address

8532 St. Helens Drive Suite 250

Wilsonville, OR 97070 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

27-4682873

NTEE code info

Community Foundations (T31)

Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (F12)

Patients' Rights (R27)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Mental health care as we know it is failing people worldwide. Medications are over-prescribed, people are forced into treatment without their consent, and many end up hopelessly lost within the system. Navigating the current system can often be as challenging as navigating a mental health crisis itself. The experience of mental health service users all over the world often centers around outdated and ineffective treatments. This results in feelings of alienation, loss of autonomy, inappropriate prescriptions and, in some cases, abuse of human rights. A growing body of research shows that the current, entrenched system of care often fails to improve outcomes for people who are facing mental health challenges.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Adapting the Open Dialogue Model in the United States

With a multi-year grant from Open Excellence, mental health clinicians and researchers at UMass Medical School and UC San Diego began the work of adapting the Finnish Open Dialogue model for use in the United States. It is an innovative, recovery-oriented, clinical intervention that has been demonstrated to help individuals in acute psychiatric crises to find recovery.

There are currently three pilot projects underway; in Framingham, Massachusetts and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as the Institute for Dialogic Practice in Haydenville, MA which runs a two-year training program in dialogical practices and the Open Dialogue approach.

Population(s) Served
Young adults
Adults

Supporting the expansion of Hearing Voices peer-support groups across the United States, Israel and online. These groups offer a safe place for people to share their experiences of voices, visions, tactile sensations, unshared beliefs, and other distressing experiences. By meeting together to help and support one another, to exchange information, and most importantly to learn from each other’s coping strategies, these groups transform the lives even of people who have suffered for many years. Some people stop hearing voices entirely, while others learn to accept and “live with voices” in ways that enable them to regain more control over their lives.

Population(s) Served

Open Excellence administers the donor-advised RxISK.org Fund which supports the RxISK mission to "make medicines safer for all of us". Prescription drug side effects are now your most likely source of death, disability, or injury. Experts estimate that only 1–10% of serious adverse events (those causing hospitalization, disability, or death) are ever reported. Not to mention the millions of medically mild adverse drug events that occur each year — ones that compromise your concentration, functioning, judgment, and ability to care.

RxISK is a free, independent website where you can research prescription drugs and report a drug side effect. The resulting RxISK Report provides you with your RxISK Score indicating how likely it is that you are experiencing a drug side effect. This structured tool can help you articulate what is happening to you and determine whether your doctor is listening.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Health

Open Dialogue is a resource-oriented approach for people experiencing a mental health crisis. Developed in Finland, it has shown excellent results: 84% of persons experiencing a first episode psychosis returned to an active social life and only 33% were exposed to neuroleptic medications. Since these results were published, Open Dialogue has gained considerable attention and been adopted in countries around the globe, but implementation and outcomes have not yet been systematically investigated.
HOPEnDialogue is the first international research project to support the development of the approach and the investigation of its efficacy in different settings and cultures. HOPEnDialogue is based at the Italian National Research Council with an international advisory board of twenty-two experts, including researchers, OD clinicians, peers, family members and public health officers.

Population(s) Served

United Nations special rapporteur Dainius Pūrius wrote in 2017, “We need little short of a revolution in mental health care to end decades of neglect, abuse and violence . . . I am calling on States to move away from traditional practices and thinking, and enable a long overdue shift to a rights-based approach. The status quo is simply unacceptable.”

In partnership with Open Society Foundations, Open Excellence is supporting original international reporting to change the status quo via the webzine MadInAmerica.com, a nonprofit founded by science journalist Robert Whitaker. In addition to coverage of critical issues with the current standard of mental health care and innovations from around the world, madinamerica.com has compiled resources on psychiatric drug safety, efficacy and withdrawal. It also offers information on non-drug therapies, individual and family support groups and a spectrum of voices of people with lived experience and professionals working on innovation and reform.

Population(s) Served

One in six Britons were taking an antidepressant in 2018. So was the same proportion of American women. Those numbers surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among people who had never taken them before. The increase was even greater in Australia which also saw 31% increase in anti-anxiety drugs. At the same time, there is growing recognition among national standards organizations and the general public that these drugs create physical dependence and side effects that often make withdrawal difficult and sometimes impossible. This has left many people with prolonged or permanent injury and disability. Currently, physicians are not trained in how to safely and effectively assist people to taper and withdraw from these drugs and the few independently developed tapering protocols are not widely known. Open Excellence is supporting the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal in its work to improve practice, research and training in this critical area.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Adults
Adults
Adults

In response to the increased visibility of structural racism, systemic oppression, and police violence, Surviving Race will convene advocates, artists, educators, peer supporters, psychiatric survivors, and white allies to 1). Acknowledge, celebrate, and integrate the legacy of hope, resiliency and vision forged by our ancestors; 2). Examine the impact of structural racism, systemic oppression, and police violence on health disparities and racial trauma experienced by Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC); and 3). Co-create future strategies and implementation steps to counter structural racism, systemic oppression, and police violence against BIPOC.

Open Excellence is a major sponsor of this 4-day forum in Savannah, Georgia in August 2022 to promote justice and healing.

Population(s) Served
Ethnic and racial groups
Health

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of media citations of advocate research or products

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Total number of grants awarded

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Number of donations made by board members

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Total dollar amount of grants awarded

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of new donors

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Our vision is to radically improve outcomes for people with mental health challenges. We are transforming the current medical model of care to a recovery-based model that institutes trauma-informed practices, fully informed consent, person-centered choice, less reliance on medication, and more helpful and hopeful tools for recovery.

Former NIMH Director Tom Insel recently said, "I spent 13 years at NIMH really pushing on the neuroscience and genetics of mental disorders, and when I look back on that I realize that while I think I succeeded at getting lots of really cool papers published by cool scientists at fairly large costs—I think $20 billion—I don't think we moved the needle in reducing suicide, reducing hospitalizations, improving recovery for the tens of millions of people who have mental illness."

To move the needle, the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care is funding clinical research and piloting recovery programs that are already helping people today, with preliminary data showing improved outcomes. These focus on neglected areas of research such as the side-effects of long-term use of medication, nutrition and metabolic disorders that cause psychiatric symptoms, and treatment supports such as Open Dialogue and Hearing Voices support groups.

By funding clinical research, piloting recovery models of care and sharing unbiased information, we will achieve a fact based system of care that allows people to make well informed choices for their treatment.

We accomplish this by connecting donors to the causes that they find most meaningful through our worldwide network of researchers.

The Foundation has a community of dedicated donors who come from all walks of life but are united by a common vision and passion. We partner them with world renowned researchers, who together with our staff, international Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Council members advance the mission of the Foundation. These include pioneering thought leaders from institutions such as the University of Massachusetts Medical School, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Emory School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and UC San Diego Medical School, to name a few. These researchers and board members include people who have lived through and with many different mental health challenges and this first-hand expertise informs every aspect of the work of the Foundation.

We have an extensive fabric of international relationships established over decades from which to draw further expertise and assistance.

The staff, consisting of our CEO Seana O'Callaghan, Chief Administrative Officer Malea Vedack, and Chief Communications Officer Jessica Pratt orchestrate the smooth operation of financial stewardship, grant making, monitoring, and effective communication.

We are making progress in the following key areas: research, education and innovative program implementation. We have funded research which has been published in peer-reviewed journals, we have on-going research taking place currently in the areas of nutrition and multi-nutrients, long-term use of psychotropic drugs and the efficacy of Open Dialogue and Hearing Voices groups.

We partner with educational programs that offer family member support and continuing professional education. We have implemented a model treatment program which is now being replicated in three states, “Open Dialogue".

We are still working to achieve a large enough donor base to assure sustainability for many years to come in order for us to truly accomplish our mission of changing and improving mental health care.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE, INC
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE, INC

Board of directors
as of 03/29/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Kermit Cole

Giovan Bazan

Gayle Berg, PhD

Kermit Cole

David Hughes, PhD

Human Services Research Institute.

Chris Gordon, MD

Advocates Inc.

Ronda "Ro" Speight

MHA Westchester

Peter Kinderman, PhD

University of Liverpool

Hannah M Lingley

Capital One

Pablo Sadler, MD, MPH

New York City Bureau of Mental Health

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 11/9/2021

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Decline to state
Sexual orientation
Decline to state
Disability status
Decline to state

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 11/18/2021

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.