Engaging and Organizing the Rehabilitation Team

Abstract

Experts who provide training on psychiatric rehabilitation are typically outsiders, hired by central administrators to provide consultation to the rehabilitation team. For an interactive approach to staff training to be effective, the consultant must engage all professionals who work in the agency and are responsible for the provision of services to consumers with severe mental illness. In most large agencies, professionals vary in their level of responsibility and direct contact with consumers; organizational pyramids describe the various levels that comprise most agencies. Directors sit at the top and are responsible for developing the overall vision of the agency as well as general policies for implementing this vision. Middle managers are responsible for hiring and supervising the staff and for providing the resources to carry out this policy. They also have a heavier hand in deciding the format of specific programs that will accomplish these goals. Line-level staff anchor the pyramid. This group comprises the various clinical disciplines (e.g., rehabilitation counselors, psychiatrists, vocational specialists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, educators, and technicians) that carry out the day-to-day rehabilitation programs necessary to provide complete service to the consumer.