| Abstract: | Discusses the importance of perceived program need and agency and consultant contracts to the development of agency-based community mental health programs. For programs that depend significantly on the contributions of an outside consultant, 2 steps must be taken. First, the nature of the perceived program need and the relevance of the consultants' interests and skills to that need must be established. Second, contracts clarifying the agency's and the consultant's specific roles and responsibilities in the prospective program must be developed. Problems in need determination may involve misidentification of need or disagreement among agency staff about needs. A hypothetical program for training volunteers as companions of discharged mental patients is described to illustrate the steps taken in establishing contractual responsibilities. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
