Presents summary of group discussions on Surles'"Critical Issue Paper 4: Changing Organizational Structures and Relationships in Community Mental Health." Reveals general agreement with Surles. Suggests areas of beneficial preservice and inservice training for administrators. Recommends areas of research needs. (ABL)

Community Based Consultation, a consultation/education model appropriate for use in CMHC's and mental health departments is described. The model is being implemented by a Community Services Team of a rural mental health department. Appropriate strategies, a conceptualization of the community along power dimensions, a decision-making structure for…

Discusses these trends in mental health services: cost control and financial retrenchment, policy influence and funding, shift of long-term care responsibility, expansion of private health care market interest, and change in characteristics of mentally ill. Recommends information enhancements, market potentials, alternative organizational…

Following a brief introduction, this paper focuses on how the Texas Project for Elders, one of ten sites in the country participatng in the National Long-Term Care Channeling Demonstration Project (Channeling), has taken into account the mental health needs of clients and caregivers both in the development and delivery of services. The clients…

This paper describes the efforts of the rural Pioneer Mental Health Center (PMHC), Seward, Nebraska, in the development of a community-based alcohol/drug prevention program. Part I focuses on the history and development of the prevention model, which emphasizes process-oriented activities to promote community identification and ownership of the…

The author discusses the problematic term "community psychology" in relation to the many experiences he has had, personally, in the profession. When community psychologists concern themselves with social issues, they quite often adopt the "oversocialized conception of man," which allows for no change and rests firmly on the status quo. Another…

Research has found a strong relationship between aggregate economic indicators and the number of individuals receiving services from mental health facilities. To examine the relationship between macroeconomics and health, the broad utilization patterns and demographic information on the aggregate number of individuals using the mental health…

Although the major locus of mental health care in the United States is in community agencies, funding cutbacks threaten the services those agencies provide. To assist human service managers in developing guidelines and concrete action strategies for dealing with financial problems, 106 mental health professionals (e.g., agency directors, technical…

The economic solvency of Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs) is a problem that needs immediate attention. In order to study the shift in funding sources for the 40 Community Services Boards (CSBs) which administer the 114 CMHCs in Virginia, the funding sources of CMHCs, and the fee collections of the CSBs, were examined. Data revealed that…

The paper deals with a mental health program designed to treat the 2 1/2 to 5 year old Mexican American child with severe emotional or behavioral problems. Components of the program included a mutual agreement with Parent Child Centers (Headstart) in the community; staff who had expertise to evaluate, diagnose, design, and implement an individual…

This paper presents contributions at a symposium about Carolina Alternatives (CA), a North Carolina program that blends capitated financing with public sector managed care for mental health and substance abuse services for children and youth eligible for Medicaid. The symposium focused on stakeholders' perspectives and on expenditure patterns of…

A number of studies have examined variables that discriminate individuals who drop out of mental health programs. However, relatively little attention has been focused on determining characteristics of individuals who fail to follow through after their initial contact with mental health services. This study was designed to provide a profile of…

This paper summarizes the process of instituting a standardized mental health assessment protocol in a community health treatment program serving maltreated youth. The assessment program was intended to: (1) provide descriptive data regarding the populating utilizing the service; (2) examine the efficacy of therapeutic interventions and monitor…

This paper describes the program and research related to the "Making It" series of 18 multi-media divorce workshops co-sponsored by a community mental health center (CMHC) and a chapter of Parents without Partners (PWP). An introductory section discusses the rationale for larger scale community intervention and epidemiological research. The…

This study examined specific behavioral characteristics of children in four different treatment environments by an Ohio child mental health agency, in order to shed light on placement decisions in relation to levels of care and severity of symptoms. Data were collected from approximately 300 total program admissions above age 5, each quarter, for…