A Discussion About Why Young People With Mental Illness Are Feeling This Way

Goodwin City’s Everyone’s Here Program encourages young people with mental illness to be active and engaged the City’s events and activities, especially those that promote social support, healthy coping and acceptance of individual differences. The Mayor of Goodwin City had her team develop a Community Capability Framework to better understand the needs of young people with mental illness and the barriers they faced.
In 2017, providers of mental health services were asked to include the Community Capability Framework in their client intake. Clients were giving a stack of cards describing how much they felt they belonged and felt supported in the City:
‘I feel great about living here’
‘I feel good about living here’
‘I feel like an invisible outsider here’
Clients are then given a stack of cards describing programs and events around the city and asked to divide them into three piles based on their level of interest:
‘I would participate in this activity’
‘I would like more information about this activity’
‘I would never attend an activity like this’
Finally, clients would be given a set of cards to divide into piles according their primary barrier they faced to participating in events:
‘I do not have transportation,’
‘I cannot afford most activities’
‘No one else like me will be there’
Each client received a score based on their selections. The City then planned to use this data to inform, what ad campaigns, health interventions and services should be planned for this group. A total of 500 young people participated in the Framework. Most participants chose “I feel like an invisible outsider here,” “I would never attend an event like this,” and “no one else like me would be there.” The Mayor is stunned and has asked you to make some recommendations based on the results.
Write a 1-2 pages (APA format) addressing the following:
Discuss why young people with mental illness are feeling this way? (5 points)
What were the limitations of this approach? Think about how data was collected. Who may have been left out? Were the questions appropriate or useful? (5 points)
Suggest a better approach for getting the desired data. (5 points)
What two recommendations would you make to the Mayor at this time, that would both be feasible and which would also demonstrate to the public that the Mayor is prioritizing this population. (10 points)