MENTAL-HEALTH AND VOCATIONAL-REHABILITATION COLLABORATION - LOCAL STRATEGIES THAT WORK

Collaboration between Mental Health and Vocational Rehabilitation prog rams is increasingly sought by staff of both kinds of programs as a wa y to promote vocational opportunities for persons with psychiatric dis abilities. This article presents six examples of collaboration, focusi ng on how local program administrators and service providers initiated and implemented collaboration that directly enhances services to cons umers. After reviewing the system-wide context of barriers to and supp ort for collaboration, we address the program-level impetus for collab oration and describe two main areas of collaboration: funding and serv ice design.