Volunteer programs in mental health

A comparison of different types of volunteer programs in two mental health institutions is presented. The types of rewards available to volunteers and the method of structuring the volunteer program have an effect upon the types of volunteers attracted to and retained by the institutions. The institution that places a high value on the work of the volunteers, involves them in the professional treatment team, and provides work-related satisfactions for them attracts volunteers who differ in many respects from those attracted by institutions that use volunteers only in ancillary capacities.Dr. Gidron is the Director of the Joseph J. Schwartz Graduate Program for Training Community Center Directors and Senior Personnel at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. The research upon which this paper is based was carried out as part of Dr. Gidron's doctoral dissertation.     

An administrator's dilemma: keeping the innovative mental health and aging programs alive after the grant funds end

Too often innovative and successful mental health and aging programs terminate when external funding sources end. This article describes one such project that has survived and even flourished well beyond the grant period. The original program is set forth, and changes in both the type of services offered and in the clientele are reviewed. The rationale for deviations from the original model are highlighted. Expansion, contraction and reexpansion of the range of services offered, as well as factors that impeded and enhanced program survival, are noted. The critical role of administrative leadership, vision and support for geropsychiatric services and staff is emphasized.     

Protecting clients' rights in mental health programs

Mental health organizations must take the steps necessary to ensure that their consumers are legally safe and that their rights are protected. This can best be accomplished by identifying the criteria for legally safe programs, determining the status of one's own program relative to those criteria, and implementing strategies to improve the organization's performance.     

Zero-base budgeting and mental health programs

Zero-base budgeting is riding the crest of the current wave of concern for accountability and the wish for greater efficiency and effectiveness in government. One of the fundamental appeals of zero-base budgeting is that it requires each budget to be justified in its entirety, rather than only the increment above an established base. The vehicle for organizing a program budget into incremental steps from zero is a series of decision packages. As did the program planning and budgeting system before it, zero-base budgeting presents the mental health manager with many problems. Two issues in particular (i.e., the information required for the decision packages and a possible paradoxical result of ranking the decision packages) are discussed in detail.Paul R. Binner, Ph. D., is Senior Research Scientist, Denver Research Institute.     

Issues of accountability in mental health administration

The issue of accountability in state hospitals and state schools-hospitals can be expected to remain paramount in the future. Almost all areas of mental health services are being scrutinized by consumers who are demanding more for their money. From the Perspective of the mental administrator consumers will have to become a more meaningful part of the decision making process to produce productive changes in these human service fields. Thus, to this end, human service institutions must have the ability to function as open systems and must develop a sense of responsiveness to their consumers' needs.     

Outpatient service use in minority-serving mental health programs

To evaluate the impact of participation in a minority-serving mental health program on patterns of service utilization, data on approximately 25,000 clients from a large, ethnically diverse mental health system were examined over three successive fiscal years. Clients seen in programs with higher rates of non-white participation received more outpatient care but less case management than clients seen elsewhere. The results were obtained after controlling for sociodemographic and clinical variables including treatment in an ethnic or language-matched dyad. Whether by selection and training of staff, administrative policy, operating style, program atmosphere or case-mix, minority-serving programs appear to promote distinctive patterns of utilization.This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant #1 R01 MH46618-01.     

Staffing and organizational models in mental health programs

Staffing is one part of an overall pattern of organizational functioning. Three organizational models — rational, political and standards — typically seen in mental health programs are described. Who is hired and why are examined in terms of the characteristics of each model. A summary of decision guidelines for staffing is provided, followed by suggestions for formulating a staffing strategy based on the models. Mixed models and models in the late 1980's are discussed.The authors are with the Department of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.     

Problems associated with community mental health programs

Community mental health programs vary in relation to their types of administrative and fiscal policy and structure. Discontinuity of services may increase due to proliferation of community-based programs, and community mental health personnel must be trained to deal with many needs and new programs. There will also be conflicts over individual professional interests versus community needs. Problems of staff recruitment will increase and concerted efforts are necessary to increase inservice education in order to re-shape professional roles. Psychologists in particular are interested in new developments in community psychology as a means of contributing to these efforts.This article is based on a paper presented in a symposium on Contributions of Psychologists to Community Mental Health Programs at the American Psychological Association Convention, Chicago, 1965.     

Superpatriot opposition to community mental health programs

Superpatriots' concerns about mental health programs are explored. Superpatriots are defined by nationalistic conservatism, the perception of a major internal communist threat in America, and a commitment to action. Their opposition to mental health programs involves the belief that psychological testing invades privacy and that such programs are extensions of federal bureaucracy, encourage immorality, are ideologically biased, and are part of a communist plot to destroy America. Superpatriots who were interviewed werenot disturbed or alienated. They were strongly fundamentalist in religion, dogmatic, moralistic, and informally associated with other superpatriots through neighborhood groups. The research reported here has been supported partly by the Anti-Defamation League and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Thanks are due to Alvin Michaels, M.D., for his help on an earlier version of this report.