WPA guidance on steps, obstacles and mistakes to avoid in the implementation of community mental health care.
This paper provides guidance on the steps, obstacles and mistakes to avoid in the implementation of community mental health care. The document is intended to be of practical use and interest to psychiatrists worldwide regarding the development of community mental health care for adults with mental illness. The main recommendations are presented in relation to: the need for coordinated policies, plans and programmes, the requirement to scale up services for whole populations, the importance of promoting community awareness about mental illness to increase levels of help-seeking, the need to establish effective financial and budgetary provisions to directly support services provided in the community. The paper concludes by setting out a series of lessons learned from the accumulated practice of community mental health care to date worldwide, with a particular focus on the social and governmental measures that are required at the national level, the key steps to take in the organization of the local mental health system, lessons learned by professionals and practitioners, and how to most effectively harness the experience of users, families, and other advocates.
Thornicroft
Graham
G
Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK.
Alem
Atalay
A
Antunes Dos Santos
Renato
R
Barley
Elizabeth
E
Drake
Robert E
RE
Gregorio
Guilherme
G
Hanlon
Charlotte
C
Ito
Hiroto
H
Latimer
Eric
E
Law
Ann
A
Mari
Jair
J
McGeorge
Peter
P
Padmavati
Ramachandran
R
Razzouk
Denise
D
Semrau
Maya
M
Setoya
Yutaro
Y
Thara
Rangaswamy
R
Wondimagegn
Dawit
D