Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Housing Concerns Loom Large for Patients
Article in the March Psychiatric Times - "As part of its task to conduct a comprehensive study of the U.S. mental health care system, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health held its second meeting last November to focus on the critical role that housing plays for people with mental illness. Most discussions about housing focus on the public sector, where the majority of people with serious mental illness receive treatment and where the supply of safe and affordable housing is in short supply. Housing is also a concern for the private sector...."  
  

National Census finds most US counties don't have enough adult day centers
Press release from the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center - "A national study of adult day centers found that 56 percent of U.S. counties did not have enough adult day centers to meet the need, according to Nancy J. Cox, M.S.W., national director of Partners in Caregiving. Cox, who also is an instructor in psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, told the 2003 Joint Conference of the National Council on the Aging and American Society of Aging today (March 15) in Chicago that the census showed 3,407 adult day centers are operating in the United States, serving primarily people with dementia (including Alzheimer's disease) and the frail elderly who do not have dementia."  
  

Shifting to a Recovery-Based Continuum of Community Care
Report of the Subcommittee on Consumer Issues at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health web site - "Mental health research shows that people can and do fully recover, even from the most severe forms of mental illness. Most fundamentally, recovery means having hope for the future, living a self-determined life, maintaining self-esteem, and achieving meaningful roles in society. Most consumers report they want the same things other people want: a sense of belonging, an adequate income, a way to get around, and a decent place to live. They aspire to build an acceptable identity for themselves and in the community at large. These are the essential ingredients of recovery from mental illness."