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The CMHA National’s document,
A Framework for Support is in its third edition, and provides a valuable
context in which to think about recovery for a person with serious
mental illness. The following text is from that document: Since
its inception in the early 1980's, the Framework policy project
has called for the full involvement of consumers and families in
mental health systems that are community focused and recovery
oriented. In support of this, the Framework identified four key
interest groups with the potential to integrate and support people
with mental illness.
The Community Resource Base, as these four groups are
collectively called, reflected a shift in thinking by including
consumers and families as full partners, along with mental health
service providers and representatives of generic social agencies,
in the process of planning and operating the mental health system.
These ideas of partnership, and the redefinition of consumers and
families as key players and change agents with a wealth of
practical and experiential knowledge, have proven to be enduring
components of the Framework model. They are the foundation for a
policy approach that is centred on the lives of people with mental
health problems, not just the professional service system that is
designed to help them.
Family and Friends
Families are the single largest group of caregivers, often
providing financial, emotional and social support, although their
role generally goes unrecognized. Families, when organized, have
the potential not only to support their ill relative, but to
provide support to one another and to other families as well.
Despite the importance of the role that families play and the
burden they carry, they receive almost no financial support. It is
ironic that professional service providers, who provide care and
support to people with mental illness, receive almost 100% of the
mental health dollars, while families, who also provide care and
support, receive virtually no financial resources.
For many people, informal networks of friends or neighbours
fill the same functions as families.
These networks provide a variety of kinds of support and the
opportunity for reciprocal relationships not usually found in the
system of formal services.
From CMHA/Peel’s perspective, it is the presence of all types
of community resources that impact most positively on person’s
recovery. As such, we are committed to involving family as much as
we can, based on the wishes of our clients, to help our clients
achieve recovery. Our Community Development work also aims to work
in partnership with family organizations. |
