Facilitating community connections among people with mental illnesses: Perspectives from grassroots community leaders.

We conducted focus groups comprising 20 grassroots community leaders to identify social and structural elements that affect community engagement among people with serious mental illnesses. Community leaders not affiliated with mental health systems have been mostly left out of the discussions about inclusion and engagement, even though they possess unique information about the places where they live and can be essential partners in making community connections. The findings from the focus groups point to elements that both facilitate and inhibit connections, as well as roles community mental health practitioners may take on, to engage with community leaders and people with mental illness to minimize barriers and foster connections in community settings.

The Citizenship Project part II: impact of a citizenship intervention on clinical and community outcomes for persons with mental illness and criminal justice involvement.

This study assessed the effectiveness of an intervention based on a theoretical framework of citizenship on reducing psychiatric symptoms, alcohol use, and drug use, and increasing quality of life for persons with serious mental illness (SMI) and criminal justice involvement. One-hundred fourteen adults with SMI and a history of criminal justice involvement participated in a 2 × 3 longitudinal randomized controlled trial of a four-month citizenship intervention versus usual services. Linear mixed model analyses were used to assess the intervention's impact on quality of life, symptoms, and substance use.

Going to the source: creating a citizenship outcome measure by community-based participatory research methods.

Objective: This study used participatory methods and concept-mapping techniques to develop a greater understanding of the construct of citizenship and an instrument to assess the degree to which individuals, particularly those with psychiatric disorders, perceive themselves to be citizens in a multifaceted sense (that is, not in a simply legal sense).

Methods: Participants were persons with recent experience of receiving public mental health services, having criminal justice charges, having a serious general medical illness, or having more than one of these "life disruptions," along with persons who had not experienced any of these disruptions. Community-based participatory methods, including a co-researcher team of persons with experiences of mental illness and other life disruptions, were employed.

A peer-support, group intervention to reduce substance use and criminality among persons with severe mental illness.

Objective: This study compared the effectiveness of two interventions in reducing alcohol use, drug use, and criminal justice charges for persons with severe mental illnesses: first, a community-oriented group intervention with citizenship training and peer support that was combined with standard clinical treatment, including jail diversion services, and second, standard clinical treatment with jail diversion services alone.

Methods: A total of 114 adults with serious mental illness participated in a 2 x 3 prospective longitudinal, randomized clinical trial with two levels of intervention (group and peer support for the experimental condition and standard services for the control) and three interviews (baseline, six months, and 12 months). Self-report questionnaires assessed alcohol and drug use, and program databases assessed criminal justice contacts.

Representation of the governed: leadership building for people with behavioral health disorders who are homeless or were formerly homeless.

Many organizations that provide services to individuals with behavioral health disorders are required to include people with psychiatric disabilities on their boards and action groups, yet this requirement rarely results in successful, ongoing representation. We report on a pilot project that trained people who were homeless and formerly homeless, most of whom were diagnosed with behavioral health disorders, for internships on boards and action groups that provide services to people who are homeless. We relate the project's goals to the theme of empowerment, present our findings, discuss key implementation issues, and offer recommendation for future program efforts and research.