The involvement of a consumer council in organizational decision making ina public psychiatric hospital

This article describes a consumer group within a public psychiatric hospita l that serves primarily a forensic population. Some barriers to participati on included the severity of some clients' mental illness, an organizational culture that does not fully support participation, the lack of clients' aw areness of problems or alternative actions,, and inherent power imbalances between. clients and staff. Despite these barriers, the consumer group has made improvements for facility clients. Some factors associated with this s uccess included strong administrative support, the allocation of a highly q ualified staff liaison to work with the group, and the integration of the g roup into the facility's formal decision-making structure. Lessons are offe red for the development of similar groups within public psychiatric hospita ls and community-based mental health agencies.