SUPPORTED EDUCATION FOR PERSONS WITH PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITIES - IMPLEMENTATION IN AN URBAN SETTING

The onset of mental illness may drastically interrupt individual lives , often occurring during young adulthood when people are pursuing acad emic or vocational goals. Many individuals with psychiatric disabiliti es would like to resume these pursuits but need support to be successf ul. Responding to this need, the Michigan Supported Education Research Project (MSERP) was developed as a three-year federally funded collab orative effort providing support, assistance, and information to indiv iduals with serious mental illness who wish to pursue college or vocat ional education. This article describes implementation of the project in metropolitan Detroit, the issues encountered, and solutions develop ed along the way. Significant factors in implementation include an urb an-based location on a college campus, the collaboration between the p ublic mental health system and academic institutions, and the many cha llenges presented by the students and the educational and mental healt h systems in place to serve them.