About Community Care & the Mental Health Act
The National Mental Health act, signed into law 65 years ago, started the transition away from big institutions and long-term inpatient care for all mental health cases towards self-sufficiency for mental health patients. After the initial act was passed it has been revised and expanded over the years.
Background
Prior to the Mental Health Act, it was common for the mentally ill to be sent away to large institutions where they would live out their lives. Having a system in place to change this philosophy came about after years of lobbying Congress and the states towards a more practical and humane way of dealing with the mental health issue.
What is community care?
Community care works under the philosophy that most mentally ill patients can function in society with the proper supervision and ongoing therapy. There are a number of community support levels which are directly related to the assessment needs of that individual client. Some people can function well with minimal support (four hours a week of in-home support or even regular trips to visit their mental health counselor), whereas others need much more structured care. There are certain criteria that must be met to meet the threshold of community support and levels within the community support system.
Purpose of community care
The goal of community care/support is having the client become self-sufficient. While it is not possible for every client to be self-sufficient (due to the severity of their mental health or mental retardation condition), the community support professional will work on having the client become as self-sufficient as possible for that individual.
Challenges
Funding cuts have rewritten many of the community support levels, particularly on the state levels due to ongoing budget constraints on the states. As a result, the mental health professionals may assess someone for 20 hours of community support, but only get authorization from the state for ten. This can lead to more serious problems, and mental health professionals are working on restoring some of this lost funding.