title: Leading a horse to water: an action perspective on mental health policy.
abstract: Following publication of several landmark policy documents beginning in 1999, there are unprecedented opportunities for reforming mental health care to meet the needs of persons with mental illness. In this article, the authors suggest that transforming mental health requires dramatic changes in theory as well as in policy and practice, offering action theory as a corrective for a clinical psychology that has yet to view people as active agents shaping their own lives. A participatory approach to policy development and adoption of an action-oriented model of clinical practice provide examples of the shift, which results from treating people to enhancing their access to opportunities and offering them the in vivo supports they need to pursue meaningful lives even while disabled.
authors.affiliation: Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06513, USA. larry.davidson@yale.edu
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Flanagan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roe
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Styron
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017146:Models, Organizational; D010358:Patient Participation; D011582:Psychological Theory; D014481:United States