| Abstract: | Discusses the recruitment of nonprofessional personnel to help provide sufficient manpower to serve the mentally ill and emotionally disturbed. A review of national developments during the past 2 decades reveals that without national or other coordinated leadership the critical needs of the mentally ill consumer at the local level coalesced with striking changes in (a) the mental health delivery system (the concept of the therapeutic community), and (b) sociopolitical areas (community colleges, career ladder, and related new frontier and great society programs) to produce these new types of mental health manpower. The recent influx of national institute of mental health monies to support these training programs for nontraditional mental health workers will further accelerate these developments. (36 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
