COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH AND REHABILITATION

Abstract

Community mental health and rehabilitation focuses on person-centered, holistic and accessible promotion, prevention, treatment and long-term management of mental health disorders in communities. Contrary to institutional approaches to care, community-based mental health services are meant to help integrate persons with mental illness into their natural social settings hence facilitating social inclusion, functional independence, and quality life. This model is based on multidisciplinary cooperation between mental health providers and physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and primary healthcare providers to support psychological, physical, and social aspects of health. Key elements are early detection, psychosocial treatment, vocational rehabilitation, family engagement, elimination of stigmatization and community engagement. Rehabilitation aims at restoring functioning capacity, improvement of coping skills, preventing relapse and reintegration into educational, occupational and social roles. The community mental health models play an important role especially in the low and middle-income countries where accessibility and continuity of services are enhanced by the optimization of resources, and by decentralizing care. Altogether, community mental health and rehabilitation is a sustainable and inclusive model of facilitating mental health and recovery in the long term.