Our Work
How we are working for mental wellness
Grantmaking
Grantmaking is a key step in realizing the Foundation’s vision of a future where behavioral health is understood, supported, and accepted. Staunton Farm Foundation seeks proposals that use evidence-based models, emphasize best practices, provide measurable outcomes, and eliminate negative stereotypes associated with behavioral illnesses. Current priority areas include:
Collaboration
Grants for collaboration with multiple stakeholders to learn/train as a region. The Foundation will act as a convener and a neutral facilitator.
Examples: Provide funding to new projects which identify unusual partners’ support; integration of behavioral health; develop trainings that support multiple organizations rather than one; work with local colleges/ universities to develop workforce
Innovation
Grants that advance the field and use evidence-based practices and approaches to improve outcomes.
Examples: Use of technology to advance the behavioral health field/improve outcome measures; bringing practices to scale across region
Advocacy
Grants promoting policies to improve treatment, especially for underserved populations, and extend the efforts of those supporting and advancing policy change.
Examples: Policy (not lobbying); giving voice to providers and consumers; developing white papers; gathering data to support policy change; educating legislators; convene legislators and nonprofits to discuss behavioral health support
Communication
Grants to educate the general public about current issues, as well as offer resources to change the conversation about behavioral health.
Examples: Create/share anti-stigma messages to change public perception/policy; provide opportunities for dialogue; build understanding and acceptance; improve practice by disseminating knowledge and promoting a culture of learning
Advocacy
Staunton Farm Foundation long advocated for the implementation of 988, a three-digit dialing code that routes callers to the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This life-changing hotline for mental health crises makes it easier for people to gain access to services and, potentially, reduce police interventions. If you need support, contact 988 today.
Albert B. Craig, Jr. Award
Albert B. Craig, Jr., MD served as the President of the Staunton Farm Foundation until 1991. During his years on the Board of Trustees, he gave from a boundless reservoir of creativity, kindness, and generosity of spirit, challenging trustees and staff to search for the best ideas to improve behavioral health in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Dr. Craig brought to the Foundation the same concern for people and love of inquiry that were apparent in his career as a Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Rochester Medical School. He led the Staunton Farm Foundation in its work to improve the lives of people with behavioral health issues by supporting programs of proven merit as well as those that test new approaches to advancing behavioral health.
The purpose of the Albert B. Craig, Jr. Award is to recognize people who have challenged society to think in fresh ways about problems and solutions in behavioral health; to forge new paths, whether through uncommon partnerships or new ways of serving people with behavioral health issues; or who have invented a product or process that has alleviated mental illness/addiction. Recipients of the award need not reside in Southwestern Pennsylvania, but their contributions must have an impact on individuals in this region.
The Staunton Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry
In 1987 Albert B. Craig Jr., acting as President of the Foundation, entered into an agreement with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine endowing a Chair (professorship) to be known as “The Staunton Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry.” The function of the Chair is to conduct research into developmental pathways for a broad range of mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems in youth.
In 2013, the University of Pittsburgh appointed Dr. Beatriz Luna, PhD as the Staunton Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry. She and her team have an impressive background in the neuroscience of adolescent brain development.
Currently, Dr. Luna is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and School of Medicine with a secondary appointment in the Department of Psychology. She is the founder and director of the Laboratory of Neurocognitive Development at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. According to Dr. Luna, her research has focused on “understanding the brain basis of behavior during the adolescent period of development… because this is a time associated with risky behavior and the emergence of many psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders.”