[...]... public health policy The book represents a coherent and comprehensive presentation of the salient issues that constitute the manifold challenges for the improvement in the provision of community mental health services in the early years of the 21st century As such, it supplies fundamental information for students, practitioners, and consumers in their quest to jointly construct an effective and humane mental. .. Conceptualizing the Challenges in Community Mental Health Jessica Rosenberg and Samuel J Rosenberg Deinstitutionalization and Its Discontents It is difficult to identify a single explanation for the community mental health movement and the drive for deinstitutionalization that culminated in the passage of the Community Mental Health Act of 1963 Cynics would underscore the government’s motivation to cut costs for. .. at the local and national levels 3 Funding streams and sources These three elements of a rational community mental health system need to be coordinated in tandem with one another Treatment models that work require policy initiatives that support them with adequate funding We hope that the present volume begins to integrate the challenges for all those involved in community mental health in the 21st century. .. ill to live in the community Within this multifaceted context that created the conditions for community mental heath, we would like to address two fundamental issues examined in this volume: the effect of deinstitutionalization on persons with mental illness, and the current challenges confronting community mental health today The evolution of deinstitutionalization of persons with major mental illness... coerced for many years in mental health facilities in the United States and around the world The movement was made up of people who believed that they were dehumanized by psychiatrists and other mental health providers due in large part to the belief that people with mental illness could not or would not recover to a life of independence and self-determination The consumer movement put forward the theory... to name a few They were led by consumers that have been in the system and were now demanding “Nothing about us without us” from the policy makers of the mental health system What this meant was that consumers believed that they knew what was best for them in their recovery from mental and emotional problems Consumers wanted a place at the table of policy making and to reform the mental health system... using the influence of other people in the community Although Beers was relatively successful in his mission to improve the mental health system, he too continued to meet with great opposition Despite some efforts to protect the rights of the mentally ill and to have services offered in the community, the 1920s and 1930s continued to be a time of significant growth of large psychiatric institutions In the. .. their voice and stood in opposition to the poor, inconsistent, and often inadequate treatment that they were receiving from the mental health community In the 1960s and 1970s the mental health consumer movement began to gain momentum Interestingly, the movement made its mark inside psychiatric institutions in the United States, as patients began to protest the poor or disrespectful treatment that they... furthered the mission of the consumer movement through the development of mutual support groups and the beginnings of consumer-run services in the community The deinstitutionalization that occurred emphasized the need for community- based services to address reentry into the community in terms of adequate housing, meaningful work, effective treatment, and the development of social relationships As mental. .. psychiatric hospitalizations The difference for her, which is a difference between life and death, is community mental health She is alive today because of community mental health, yet because community mental services are fragmented and access to care is often problematic, her future is in question This book outlines the substantial challenges facing contemporary community mental health It contains a collection . explanation for the community mental health movement and the drive for deinstitutionalization that culminated in the passage of the Community Mental Health. improvement in the provision of community mental health services in the early years of the 21st century. As such, it supplies fundamen- tal information for students,