Mecklenburg’s

Promoting      Recovery and   Opportunity through Mentoring,      Insight,        Support and       Education

 

 

Recovery Now

 

 “Recovery Model Reforming National Mental Health System”

By Cherene Allen-Caraco

 

Beginning in 1993, the Recovery Model was used to guide statewide mental health reform.  The first state, Ohio, used this model to transform their system from a traditional, medical model to the Recovery Model.  Other states did the same, continuing with Wisconsin in 1996 and Illinois in 1998.  With the success generated from these states, combined with research and consumer voice, the Recovery Model has become a tool for guiding system reform at the state and now national level in both policy and practice. 

 

While some states have taken it upon themselves, others have been influenced by President Bush’s New Freedom Commission Report, a process that began in 2001.  The Commissioners were charged with the responsibility of assessing the state of the national mental health system and making recommendations to “promote increased access to educational and employment opportunities for people with disabilities, to maximize the use and effectiveness of existing resources, to improve coordination of treatments and services and to promote community integration.”   In part, they did so by visiting innovative programs and meeting with consumers, families, advocates, providers, researchers and administrators.  In all, they gathered and assimilated information from 2,500 people from all 50 states.

 

Their final report, “Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America” concluded that recovery from mental illness is real, however due to a fragmented system and inadequate resources, efforts toward recovery are thwarted.

 

The report concluded that the system is not oriented to the single most important goal of the people it serves - the hope of recovery. State-of-the-art treatments, based on decades of research, are not being transferred from research to community settings.  In many communities, access to quality care is poor, resulting in wasted resources and lost opportunities for recovery. More individuals could recover from even the most serious mental illnesses if they had access in their communities to treatment and supports that are tailored to their needs (Mental Health Commission, 2001).

 

One of the recommendations detailed is that institutional care must be replaced with efficient, effective community services that focus on Recovery. The clear recommendation is a fundamental transformation of how mental health care is delivered in America with the model of recovery serving as the template in which to reform the system of mental health.

 

A mental health task force was created to promote legislative changes in North Carolina’s mental health system.  In 2000, the North Carolina Legislature passed legislation to reduce institutional treatment and inpatient hospitalization of adults with mental illness.  Restructuring of the state’s mental-health system began in 2001 with the unveiling of State Plan 2001: Blueprint for Change, and with the divestiture of mental health services from locally-run public mental health agencies to private agencies. This is a transformation that continues, not only in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina, but the nation as a whole. 

 

 

References

 

Mental Health Commission. (2001). President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Retrieved on April 7th, 2007 from www.MentalHealthCommission.gov.      

 

NC DHHS. (2001). State Plan 2001: Blueprint for Change. Retrieved on April 7th, 2007 from http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/mhddsas/stateplans/sp2001/sp01-qualitymanagement11-30.pdf.