Training Mental Health Workers to Better Meet Patient Needs

A hospital-based training program for paraprofessional mental health workers focuses on maximizing their human-relations skills and providing continuous care to the patients from admission through discharge and readjustment to the community. In coordinated clinical, academic, and community experiences the trainee learns to act as a patient advocate, long-term therapist, and treatment integrator. The training curriculum includes the theory and application of group process and systems change as well as work in nonconventional community service agencies.