Community Mental Health Centers
Name
Class
Affiliation
Instructor
Date
Introduction
Community mental health entails supporting, or treating individuals associated with mental disorders in a setting deemed domiciliary rather than the conventional asylum. In this regard, the community at large takes the responsibility of managing patients with mental health difficulties without directly involving health facilities such as hospital (Margolin, 2005, p.401). It is important to note that these institutions vary depending on the country location.
Examples of community services include local primary care medical services, community mental centers, and self-help groups specific for mental health, day centers, which are the commonly known as clubhouses, as well as supported housing under either full or partial supervision. The service deliveries in these centers are under government, mental health professionals, private or even charitable organizations. In these centers, there are teams of specialized individuals offering services within a given geographical area. These services include community treatment in assertive manner, peer support, early psychosis management, as well as ex-patient evaluation (Lurie, 2004, p.311).
Risk assessment in community mental health
Most of the programs used by community health centers vary depending on the fiscal policy, structure, and administration of the center together with the country location. In addition, there are high chances of discontinuity pertaining to service delivery among the community health personnel during the implementation of the community-based programs. Furthermore, there can be a rise in conflict between an individual interest and that of the community. Suicide is one of the major problems associated with the community mental health centers (Agius, Kilsby & Zaman, 2009, p.883).
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the health professionals at these centers to identify mental...