Models of staff support for mental health/mental retardation community boards

With the advent of the 1975 Amendments to federal mental health legislation which call for community governing bodies to oversee local mental health services, the question of effective board functioning becomes crucial. This paper describes professional staff roles and staff support models that can be used to enable better functioning of community boards. Questions of placement in the hierarchy and selection of the worker are also addressed.Ms. Dreer, is former consultant to the Community Advisory Board of the Thomas Jefferson University Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center and is currently in private practice as a management consultant.     

Supporting staff in community services

A high level of morale in staff of community based services is of critical importance. To maintain high morale services must supply a variety of organisational and personal supports. Good organisational supports include: (1) adequate materials, a good and responsive communication system, and cooperation with other elements of the service; (2) sufficient staff with the right skills, which are maintained by relevant training; (3) a clear service philosophy within which to operate and in which individuals' priorities are carefully linked; (4) sufficient variety in the job to avoid staff becoming drained. Good personal supports include: (1) involvement in decisions about client plans; (2) staff awareness of their own part in obtaining service goals and an opportunity to share in evaluation and development of new policies; (3) knowledge of personal objectives; (4) clear and positive, as well as negative, feedback on individual performance; (5) respect, empathy, and a lack of defensiveness from colleagues and superiors.     

Vocational integration services in community mental health: Professionals' perceptions of training needs

Vocational integration in mental health is part of a national initiative to make quality, community-based work a possibility for persons with psychiatric disabilities. While effective delivery of these services requires trained staff, preparing professionals to provide relevant vocationally oriented services is complex and challenging. This study examines perceived priority training needs in vocational integration services from the perspectives of professionals in mental health, rehabilitation, and education organizations in Mississippi. Findings suggest that vocational integration activities are perceived differently across organizations and across occupational specialties. Implications for staff development in community support and psychosocial rehabilitation programs are discussed.Susan D.M. Kelley, Ph.D., CRC, was Public Academic Linkage Visiting Professor in Psychosocial Rehabilitation at Mississippi State University at the time this study was completed. Win Belgard, ACSW, is Coordinator of Case Management Services for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. Dana L. Cooper, Ph.D., received her doctoral degree at MSU and is currently Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling & Human Services, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.     

Carers and community mental health services

Background There is a growing appreciation of the role and needs of carers for people with mental health problems. Carers are a diverse group, including partners, relatives and friends who are seen as such by service users. Methods Sixty-four carers of people with severe mental health problems served by four different mental health care providers were interviewed using the Experiences of Care-giving Inventory. The districts were selected to differentiate services that are targeted at more severely impaired users from those that include a wider spectrum, and to contrast services that have greater integration between health and social care providers with those whose health and social care agencies operate relatively discretely. Results In the two districts where service users had more severe mental health problems, carers worried more about negative symptoms and thought less about good aspects of the caring relationship. In the two districts where health and social services worked more closely together, carers worried significantly less about the need to back up services. Conclusions These findings suggest that service organisation can affect carers, in particular that integration between health and social care for people with mental health problems may benefit carers in ways that were hitherto unproven. They highlight the needs of carers for younger people. They show that the ECI is a useful instrument in measuring the impact of caring for people with severe mental health problems. Accepted: 19 September 2001     

Reflections on a lifetime in human services and mental retardation

The author, a life member of the American Association on Mental Retardation, has reflected on over 30 years of primary engagement in mental retardation and inventoried what he believes are certain changes for the better and for the worse that have occurred since the 1950s as well as certain things that have not changed. Some action implications were sketched.     

Preparation of mental health personnel for the delivery of mental retardation services

The developmental experience of an urban community mental health-mental retardation center is presented as a guiding model for other community mental health centers interested in tooling up their mental retardation services. Surveying personnel needs, establishing educational objectives tailored to personnel, presenting specific knowledge about mental retardation, clarifying mandates for community mental health-mental retardation service, and two conceptual frameworks for service delivery are elaborated.A detailed course outline, extensive bibliography, and teaching materials for the seminar described in the paper may be obtained for the authors.     

Community mental health services in the community jail

A frequently neglected group of community residents are those who find their way into jail. Jails tend to be the collecting point for many disturbed persons. This paper briefly describes the problems of the jail population and staff and suggests a policy of mental health intervention. To illustrate these points, the Mental Health Project in the Salt Lake County Jail is described as an example.     

韩国社区精神卫生服务的印象

<正>自上世纪80年代起,随着韩国工业的迅猛发展,其精神卫生服务机构及住院病床数也迅速提升,到90年代中期韩国政府提出社区康复理念,并于首尔建立第一个社区精神卫生中心。随后,很多省市也建立起社区精神卫生机构。其社区服务理念注重"以病人为中心",对精神病患者"轻症状"、"重全人",并将这一理念深入到医疗康复服务的每一细节,对患者病情、身体状况、居住情况、经济能力、劳动能力、生活能力、人际关系等进行综合评估,再结     

社区心理卫生服务研究进展

目前生活节奏快,竞争压力日益增加,各种不良的心理应激因素也相应增加,越来越多地影响人们的生活质量和健康水平,人们也开始关注如何保持良好的心态,对心理健康服务的需求日益增大。现代社区心理卫生服务起源于20世纪五六十年代的西方发达国家,它是由临床心理学和社会心理学交叉而形成的一门较新的心理学科。现在,社区心理卫生服务已在全球发展并在发达地区渐趋完善,社区心理卫生服务机构已成为人们预防、治疗心理疾患的重要场所。     

Evaluating mental health services in a Greek community

This study aims to evaluate rendered mental health services for children and adolescents through the investigation of those factors which are related to non-compliance with therapy and which affect treatment outcome. Data were collected from the files of all new cases who applied to a Community Mental Health Centre in Athens during 2000–2002 (N = 363). For each case, the following factors were examined: age, sex, family situation, parents’ educational level, referral source, child’s psychiatric and psychosocial diagnoses, type of proposed therapy, phase at which termination of therapy occurred and outcome. Around 45.7% of the sample did not complete therapy. The probability of treatment compliance increased when the patient was male, with a diagnosis of a specific developmental disorder, treated in a well-structured therapy programme, was from a healthy family environment and his mother was better educated. On the contrary, an adverse family situation (one-parent family, inadequate parental supervision) and the female sex had a negative association with treatment compliance. Most of the cases discontinued their treatment upon completion of the diagnostic procedure. Referral source did not influence treatment compliance. Evaluation of our service has shown that more attention should be paid to less-educated families and those in adverse situations, particularly when the patient is female.     

Twenty predictions about the future of residential services in mental retardation

Twenty predictions about the future of residential services to the mentally retarded are presented. These changes imply: (1) an entirely new model of residential services; (2) increasing continuity between residential and nonresidential services; and (3) increasing acceptance of cost-benefit rationales in the decision to offer residential or other services.