Community Mental Health Issues

Community Mental Health Issues
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Community Mental Health Issues
Community Settings
Community settings improve the accessibility, affordability, and acceptability of mental health care. According to Steele (2023), there has been a shift from institutional-based care to community-based mental health care to meet patients' unique needs effectively. Under community settings, patients receive mental health services in treatment environments such as group homes, partial hospitalization, and day treatment centers.
Group homes are programs established in a neighborhood setting to provide 24-hour specialized services to a large group of people. They provide a family-like atmosphere and are therefore utilized as an alternative to family homes (Steele, 2023). Non-medical paraprofessionals offer specialized services, and nurses work in a consultation capacity. The staff in group homes provide individual and group therapy, psycho-education, cognitive behavioral therapy, art therapy, and medication management (Steele, 2023). Group homes are considered psychologically, emotionally, and physically safe for children in foster care or those exhibiting behavioral problems. They are also suitable for adults with substance abuse disorder. According to Steele (2023), group homes provide structured mental health care to children, adolescents, and adults who cannot function in an independent living situation and require additional support. The kind of support provided in group homes allows these individuals to develop the necessary life skills. The goal is to provide a stable, safe, long-term living arrangement that supports the well-being of patients.
Partial hospitalization is a short-term, intense mental health program that provides structured treatment during the day. According to Jones and Beauvais (2023), patients receiving care from partial hospitalization cannot function independently but are stable and safe enough to return to their homes in the evening after receiving a full or half-day treatment. They receive therapeutic services such as psycho-education, individual and group therapy, pharmacological interventions, and other psychiatric rehabilitation. Steele (2023) reveals that partial hospitalization is ideal for patients transitioning from inpatient to outpatient care, especially because such patients are not well stabilized for integration into outpatient settings. They, therefore, need to receive intensive treatment at least five days a week. It is also an appropriate alternative to inpatient admission. In addition, partial hospitalization programs are connected to a hospital, and their goal is to reduce re-admission into an inpatient setting.
Day treatment provides structured treatment like partial hospitalization, but the former is less intensive. According to Steele (2023), day treatment is what patients receive once they complete a partial hospitalization program. It represents patients’ integration into outpatient settings. Day treatment provides therapeutic and rehabilitation services that allow the patient to stabilize and recover within a community outpatient setting. Day treatment aims to support the patient in achi...