title: Prejudice and discrimination from mental health service providers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This column describes the experience of prejudice and discrimination that some mental health service users encounter in their interactions with service providers and organizations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The intent of this column is to highlight potential action steps to address the negative beliefs and attitudes of service providers that contribute to prejudice and discrimination.
  
  
  METHODS
  This description draws from published material and the authors' experience.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  If the most effective approaches to reduce public prejudice and discrimination toward people diagnosed with a mental illness are education and contact, then those methods may be useful methods to help mental health service providers view and engage persons served from a strengths-based recovery and wellness orientation.
authors.affiliation: Nemec Consulting.
authors.forename: Patricia B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Nemec
authors.affiliation: Wellness Institute, Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Swarbrick
authors.affiliation: Promise Resource Network.
authors.forename: Lyn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Legere
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008605:Mental Health Services; D011287:Prejudice; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D063508:Social Discrimination; D057545:Social Stigma