No abstract

Community mental health services provide accessible, community‐based treatment options to adults, including older adults, with serious mental illness. Community mental health services began in the United States in 1963, following large‐scale closing of mental institutions, and the “deinstitutionalization” movement. These services tend to be oriented toward persons with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, but also may include prevention. Services are intended to be accessible to all who need them and enable persons with mental illness to live in the least restrictive setting possible. The recovery model is coming to be embraced in the community mental health system. Older adult community mental health services typically include special emphasis on integration with medical care, in‐home services, and integration with the aging social services.