Orientation to community mental health for clinicians in training

Abstract

Perspectives on training in community mental health must include more than community mental health centers and health maintenance organizations, on the one hand, and more than the training of psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals, on the other. Training must address the potential contribution of these mental health professionals to the promotion of mental health as well as to the alleviation of emotional distress, and the potential contribution of nonmental health professionals and nonprofessionals to both of these areas. Each of these topics has major implications for formalized training programs, and the complexity of these implications has resulted in inadequate program development in many training institutions.When the subject of community mental health is raised in clinical training institutions, the discussion often turns into an either-or controversy about the value of traditional clinical training vs. some of the more recent concepts and methods associated with the word "community." This unfortunate polarization has served to obscure the substantial common ground of various approaches to training and practice. It is true that when something totally new is added to a training program, something else has to be omitted if the length and intensity of the program is to remain the same. This fact has been the source of some needless faculty concern in the sense that many of the concepts of community mental health can provide the perspectives and context within which valid

Relationships among experience level and value orientation and the performance of paraprofessional telephone counselors

“…Because paraprofessionals lack professional roles and techniques, have similar social positions and life-styles to clients, and are familiar to and with the community, they are purported to gain entry and establish rapport with clients more easily (Reiff & Riessman, 1965;Sobey, 1970). Thus, the paraprofessional is seen as serving as a bridge between the professional and the community (Kalis, 1973).…”

Teaching community intervention in a clinical program: Reflections in the themes of supervision

“…Both Goodstein (1978) and Silverman (1978) have described the consultant as a marginal member of an organization who participates within but is not a part of a particular social setting. Such marginality of membership, where influence is created rather than given (Martin, 1978;McGreevy, 1978), was particularly troublesome for trainees whose nonexpert status already reflects a certain degree of mar-ginalit~, (Kalis, 1973).…”

Perspectives of clinical students on training in community mental health and community psychology

“…This attention has taken the form of conceptual commentaries and critiques (Kalis, 1973;Powell & Riley, 1970;Rosenblum, 1973), as well as surveys on the status of 1 Thanks are extended to the graduate students and training directors who have participated in this survey. Significant findings included: (a) 66% consider training in CP/CMH as very helpful to their career goals, (b) 54% are very much interested in postdoctoral training in CP/CMH, and (c) 62% consider the training in CP/CMH available in their graduate programs below adequate.…”

“…This attention has taken the form of conceptual commentaries and critiques (Kalis, 1973;Powell & Riley, 1970;Rosenblum, 1973), as well as surveys on the status of 1 Thanks are extended to the graduate students and training directors who have participated in this survey. This attention has taken the form of conceptual commentaries and critiques (Kalis, 1973;Powell & Riley, 1970;Rosenblum, 1973), as well as surveys on the status of 1 Thanks are extended to the graduate students and training directors who have participated in this survey.…”

“…For the 30 topics, reported adequacy of coverage ranged from 40% to 67%; the percentage of respondents who considered coverage inadequate ranged from 18% to 56%.As the general framework of community psychology has developed, increasing attention has been given to identifying the basic elements of effective training programs in community psychology and community mental health. This attention has taken the form of conceptual commentaries and critiques (Kalis, 1973;Powell & Riley, 1970;Rosenblum, 1973), as well as surveys on the status of 1 Thanks are extended to the graduate students and training directors who have participated in this survey. Acknowledgment and thanks for critically evaluating the preliminary survey forms and recommending modifications are extended to Part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.…”