the scheme but are not exclusive to it. An integral but often ignored aspect is the community dimension of mental health whose importance is underscored by the fact that a significant majority of people in the third world live in rural areas with minimal or no access to formal psychiatric facilities. In this paper, I shall review the conceptual framework and practi cality of primary health care...

This keynote paper examines the historical developments in Finland in developing community mental health services. In particular, it describes the development and growth of the ‘clubhouse model’ in the support and management of individuals with mental health and how Finland leads the way in such an approach. The paper describes the relative success of this ‘integrated’ model of care and conside...

Australia was one of the first countries to develop and implement a national mental health plan, 30 years ago. This approach belied countrys federal structure, in which government takes responsibility for primary care while state territory governments manage acute hospital care. arrangement has led significant variations across jurisdictions. It also left secondary care, often provided communit...

Organization development (OD) is discussed as being a valid tool for advancing mental health and for promoting the present goals of community mental health centers, as well as for accomplishing organization development's traditional objectives of increasing organizational effectiveness in business, industry, and government agencies. A comparison is made between the main objectives of the commun...

BACKGROUND In order to reduce the huge treatment gap in mental health, WHO has called for integrating mental health into primary care. The purposes of this study are to provide a training course to improve the community mental health staff's knowledge of mental health and reduce stigma related to mental illness, as well as to evaluate the impact of this training on knowledge and stigma. METHO...

In his recent study, Gordon Shen analyses a pertinent question facing the global mental health research and practice community today; that of how and why mental health policy is or is not adopted by national governments. This study identifies becoming a World Health Organization (WHO) member nation, and being in regional proximity to countries which have adopted a mental health policy as suppor...