Zachary Hughes is a board member of Vermont Psychiatric Survivors. Seen in Montpelier on Monday, December 16. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFor decades, the nonprofit Vermont Psychiatric Survivors has filled a key position in Vermont’s peer advocacy world. The group, which was founded in 1983, has spent years working in support of “equal rights, protection and participation of people marginalized by psychiatric diagnoses and labels,” according to its Facebook page. The organization is designated by statute to sit on various boards and committees and published a regular newspaper about mental health and psychiatric care issues in the state. But now, the future of the organization is an open question. Amid concerns over the group’s performance, it lost a bid for a state grant — one that it has received for decades — and quietly halted many of its functions.“We’re volunteer-based at this point, including our executive director,” Zachary Hughes, the vice president of the Vermont Psychiatric Survivors board, said in an interview. “We have kind of halted physical operations, if you will.”The organization’s board is still meeting, Hughes said, and has decided to keep it running. What exactly that looks like, however, is not yet clear.“We’re restructuring,” Hughes said. “And we’re trying to apply for other grants.”‘Serious and specific concerns’Since the 1990s, Vermont Psychiatric Survivors has routinely received grants from the state Department of Mental Health for “peer leadership, advocacy, and peer support,” according to Alex Frantz, a spokesperson for the Department of Mental Health. The most recent iteration of that grant, which was awarded to another group, was $607,375 for 12 months. That grant had been the group’s only source of funding, according to Hughes, although tax filings from 2022 show a small amount of other revenue. In 2022, according to the filings, the nonprofit had employed a total of 20 people and had ended the year with about $125,000 in assets.This summer, Vermont’s Department of Mental Health ended decades of precedent and awarded the grant to a new organization.That decision came after more than a dozen people signed a letter to the Department of Mental Health in January expressing concerns about Vermont Psychiatric Survivors’ work. That letter, obtained by VTDigger through a records request, was signed by 14 “members of Vermont’s psychiatric survivors community” and urged the state to solicit new bids for the grant.“We can no longer overlook (Vermont Psychiatric Survivors’) dereliction of its responsibilities and obligations under its grant or keep quiet about the wasteful allocation of state funds to VPS,” the letter reads.READ MORE Under the terms of the grant, the organization was supposed to support and advocate for people with psychiatric diagnoses, publish a newspaper about relevant issues and award funds for projects run by community members, among other tasks.But the January letter alleged that the nonprofit was failing to fulfill those responsibilities. According to the letter, Vermont Psychiatric Survivors did not participate in statewide conversations about peer support, failed to appoint people to state boards and committees and had not testified on proposed legislation in the statehouse affecting the psychiatric community.The group’s newspaper, Counterpoint, “no longer centers a psychiatric survivor voice or narrative,” the letter alleged, and the group was extremely delayed in awarding funds to community projects.The signatories “also have serious and specific concerns about VPS’s fiscal management, hiring practices, organizational culture, and adherence to its by-laws, especially regarding membership and member meetings,” the letter reads.Half a dozen signatories of that letter declined to comment or could not be reached by VTDigger.Hughes, the board vice president, said the letter was very upsetting — and not entirely accurate.“I know everybody says that, but it’s true,” he said. The organization had, for example, had representatives on some state boards and committees, Hughes said. “There are other things (in the letter) that we certainly would have wanted to look into a little more,” Hughes said. “I certainly know that there have been concerns over the years with VPS. But we’ve always gotten through them.”Zachary Hughes is a board member of Vermont Psychiatric Survivors. Seen in Montpelier on Monday, December 16. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger‘A learning experience’Frantz, the Department of Mental Health spokesperson, said that the department’s commissioner, Emily Hawes, had met with the letter’s signatories after receiving it.“DMH recognizes the time, energy and courage it takes for individuals to share concerns, and we take those concerns very seriously,” Frantz said in an email.In May, the department issued a request for applications for the peer support grant. Three organizations applied: Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Vermont, and a new organization called MadFreedom Advocates.Out of the three proposals, state staffers ranked MadFreedom Advocates’ application the highest, according to records provided to VTDigger. One state employee, Eva Dayon, expressed concern that Vermont Psychiatric Survivors would not be able to perform the responsibilities of the grant. “It’s not clear that the organization has the capacity to do this work,” Dayon wrote in a review of Vermont Psychiatric Survivors’ proposal.The Department of Mental Health ultimately awarded the grant to MadFreedom Advocates. According to its website, the group “is a grassroots, non-profit organization run by and for psychiatric survivors, mad folks, and others marginalized by the mental health system.” Chris Nial, the executive director of MadFreedom Advocates, declined to comment. Did the letter affect the state’s decision to award the grant to MadFreedom Advocates instead of Vermont Psychiatric Survivors? Frantz said it did not.“Proposals submitted through the RFP process are evaluated solely on the content of the proposal and the bidder’s ability to fulfill the scope of work as outlined in the RFP,” she said.Hughes, the Vermont Psychiatric Survivors’ board member, believes that it did. But he pledged that even without the grant, the organization would continue to exist.“This has definitely been a learning experience,” he said. “But we’re still going to be here.Read the story on VTDigger here: After losing bid for grant, the future of Vermont Psychiatric Survivors is uncertain.