Wellness and recovery: an exploratory case study of the influencing factors and barriers in the establishment of this approach to serving those with chronic mental illness

Project (M.S.W., Social Work) -- California State University, Sacramento, 2010.Though not specifically stated in the legislation, the MHSA is, on paper, a transformative piece of legislation. It attempts to completely transform the current mode of mental health services: from expert driven treatments to consumer driven treatments; from deficit models of treatment to strength based models of treatment. The question addressed in this research is whether or not this transformation is occurring and, if so, how and why.\ud Sources of Data\ud The actual subjects of this research are organizations that receive funds under the Mental Health Services Act. This exploratory case study involves the use of both primary and secondary data sources. The secondary data, planning documents, funding streams, steering committee minutes/plans, and historical documents, are all public information. The secondary data will provide an historical context, which in turn will allow the researcher to better understand and assess the primary data. The primary data comes from interviews of directors/managers from each case. The interviews were directed towards ascertaining the influencing factors and barriers involved in implementing the services and treatment approaches designated by the MHSA. Interviews will also provide the researcher opportunities to explore organizational service transformation, which is one of the expectations of the MHSA. \ud Conclusions Reached\ud The findings suggest that the primary factor influencing organizations to move to a Wellness and Recovery Model is the availability of money/funding. There were no barriers per se; this researcher found that organizations faced significant challenges in their efforts to transition from a Medical Model or Social Rehabilitation treatment model to the Wellness and Recovery treatment approach.Social Wor