Halfway Houses & Mental Health
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In recent decades, developments in mental health care have brought about a general decrease in the institutionalization of psychiatric patients. The result has been the emergence of alternative therapeutic modalities. Among these, perhaps the most widely known is the halfway house. The halfway house, or community residence, is designed as a transitional unit where rehabilitation occurs prior to the client's complete reintegration into society. Having expsychiatric patients living as part of the community has both its benefits and disadvantages. Through appropriate management of adversity which does arise, however, halfway houses can serve as a vehicle for the emphasis of patients' rights. The therapeutic potential of such support is inestimable.Today's psychiatric halfway houses are part of a movement which began in the United States during the mid1950s (Rothwell & Doniger, 1966, p. 5). With the introduction of psychotropic medications the possibility of true rehabilitation became a reality for many psychiatric patients (Budson, 1978, p. 4). Moreover, the 1950s and 1960s also saw profound social change. People were searching for alternatives to the large institutions and the alienation that they engender (Budson, 1978, p. 4). Additionally, there was also a reaction against the isolated smallness of the American nuclear family (Budson, 1978, p. 4). This combined social yearning against both impersonal bigness and isolated smallness provided the n
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85). Individually, however, the houses tend to be highly variable. Typically each differs in terms of its selection of residents, staffing, program, financing, etc. (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385). Sometimes halfway houses are no more than proprietary homes for adults; quite similar to nursing homes, minus the medically trained personnel (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385). Other houses, in contrast, are so oriented toward specific work that they are given special labels (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385). For example, the two earliest established transitional residences, Spring Lake Ranch and Gould Farm, are called work camps (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385). The workfor the most part farm choresis performed on the premises where most of the social life of the house also takes place (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385).
Still other houses bear the title "lodge" (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385). In lodges, residents live together and run their own business with a minimum of supervision from professionals (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385).
Finally, a slightly different approach has been taken in Williamsburg, Virginia (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385). There, female clients who live together have formed a corporation (Carpenter, 1978, p. 385). Each client has a job, but rather
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Approximate Word count = 2548
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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