Welfare reform on the Web (September 2006): Mental health services - Overseas
Leading by example
C. Jackson
Mental Health Today, July/Aug. 2006, p.12-13
There is a growing shortage of mental health workers worldwide. This is being addressed in the USA and New Zealand by training service users/consumers to offer peer support. Peer support and training companies provide services for statutory organisations under formal contract.
Troubled youth in transition: an evaluation of Connecticut’s special services for individuals aging out of adolescent mental health programs
T.H. Styron and others
Children and Youth Services Review, vol.28, 2006, p.1088-1101
Connecticut’s Young Adult Services (YAS) programme was developed to provide comprehensive services and support for young people with moderate to severe mental illness in transition from child/adolescent mental health services. Evaluation results suggest that the programme has achieved considerable success in meeting the complex needs of its clients, including assisting them with transitions to more independent living in the community. Strengths- and community-focused elements of the programme in particular were found to be associated with fewer symptoms, less loneliness, fewer reported problems, higher functioning and greater satisfaction with services.
Work and psychiatric disability in Canadian disability policy
L. Cockburn and others
Canadian Public Policy, vol.32, 2006, p.197-211
This paper reviews Canadian federal disability policy related to work, using the lens of mental illness, to answer the following questions:
- With regard to psychiatric disability, what are the expected outcomes in the employment domain?
- How is psychiatric disability defined and described in government documents?
- How is the relationship between work and psychiatric disability developed?
The authors conclude that Federal government should commit itself to the proposition that people with mental health problems have the ability to participate as full citizens in the workplace. It needs to build on that commitment by combating the pernicious effects of stigma and by promoting a clearer understanding of the concept of appropriate workplace accommodation.