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Housing First
Project Homeless Connect
Puntos básicos del programa PATH en español
Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS)
Moving Forward, Together: Integrating Consumers as Colleagues
PATH Housing Series
2010 PATH Grantee Meeting
Screening and Assessment Tools
Consumer Integration
Veterans
Mental Health
Outreach
PATH Resources
PATH Teleconferences
PATH Data Reports
PATH Feature Articles
PATH Specific Resources
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Consumer Integration
Since the late 1970s, mental health and substance use organizations have promoted consumer integration in an effort to create recovery-oriented environments. Consumer integration promotes the recovery values of empowerment, peer support, and hope and contributes to creating person-centered, trauma-informed program environments. The growth of the mental health consumer self-help movement, the Federal Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Community Support Program, and the development of person-oriented policies for people with mental illnesses at the Federal level (Van Tosh, 1993) have led to increased levels of consumer participation and involvement. In 2003, the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report called for consumers to be involved in planning, delivering, and evaluating mental health services. Since the late 1970s, mental health and substance use organizations have promoted consumer integration in an effort to create recovery-oriented environ...
ments. Consumer integration promotes the recovery values of empowerment, peer support, and hope and contributes to creating person-centered, trauma-informed program environments. The growth of the mental health consumer self-help movement, the Federal Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Community Support Program, and the development of person-oriented policies for people with mental illnesses at the Federal level (Van Tosh, 1993) have led to increased levels of consumer participation and involvement. In 2003, the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report called for consumers to be involved in planning, delivering, and evaluating mental health services.
Consumers can act as recovery ambassadors, conveying messages of hope and the possibility of having a rich, fulfilling life that extends beyond day-to-day survival. Their lived experience and unique perspective can inform service delivery and impact organizational culture. Consumers working in service settings as providers can help create systems that are responsive and sensitive to the needs of those receiving services. Through their work, consumers gain a greater sense of self-worth, well being, autonomy, increased self-knowledge, and improved communication skills (Mowbray, Moxley, and Collins, 1998).
There are challenges to consumer integration, which can include stigma and discrimination, boundary issues, stress, burnout, and financial and scheduling concerns. (Consumer Practitioners in PATH-funded Programs, 2006). Ethical concerns like confidentiality and setting and maintaining appropriate boundaries can be complex challenges when people work as staff or volunteers at the same agency from which they concurrently receive services. Some successful strategies employed by PATH programs to address these challenges include: creating consumer-designated positions; involving people with experiences of homelessness in governance; allowing flexible scheduling; and participating in trainings to support an agency-wide recovery-orientation (Portraits of Commitment, 2008).
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Selected Consumer Integration Resources
Rating
Title
A Guide to Consumer Involvement: Improving the Quality of Ambulatory HIV Programs
Consumer Advisory Board Manual for Health Care for the Homeless Projects
Consumer Drop-in Centers: Operations, Services and Consumer Involvement
Consumer Integration and Self-determination in Homelessness Research, Policy, Planning and Services
+ 1
Consumer Practitioners in PATH-funded Programs: Report of the Consumer Involvement Workgroup
Consumers in the Mental Health Workforce: A Handbook for Providers
Guide for Consumer Involvement in Local Community Planning for the Mental Health Services Act
How to Develop and Maintain a Consumer Advisory Board
+ 8
HRC Webcast Resources: Consumer Integration: Everyone is Talking About It, But How Do We Get It Done? Next Steps to Creating Recovery-Oriented Environments
+ 3
HRC Webcast Resources: Consumer Integration: Why it Matters, How it Works
+ 1
Mental Health Consumer Providers: A Guide for Clinical Staff
+ 3
Ten Tips for Involving Consumers as Colleagues in Homelessness Services
1.Hidden Populations
2.There Is No Wrong Door
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Disclaimer
PATH encourages discussion about the future of homelessness services in America. We invite your participation to ensure that a broad range of providers serving those experiencing homelessness are represented.
You will encounter opinions and perspectives from varied sources. These may not reflect the views of Homelessness Resource Center, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Institute on Homelessness and Trauma or any other partner organization.
Be Respectful: We welcome your participation, but any comments that contain vulgar or offensive language, personal attacks, are wildly off-topic or otherwise inappropriate will be removed immediately and the offending party risks losing the ability to participate.
If You See Something Inappropriate, Report It: You may report any comment as inappropriate. Reported comments are immediately removed, pending review, so please report responsibly. The Federal Government and the Institute on Homelessness and Trauma have sole discretion in determining what is and what is not appropriate.
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