Housing and Employment Outcomes for Mental Health Self-Direction Participants
What is it about?
In self-direction, individuals who use publicly funded mental-health services, and who have an interest in selecting their supports, control a portion of funds normally spent on their mental health treatment. Self-directing participants allocate individual budgets in a manner of their choosing within a set of program parameters, selecting and purchasing goods and services to work toward their long-term recovery goals. To find out about self-direction's impact on important functional outcomes like employment and housing, we looked at data from the nation’s largest and longest-standing self-direction effort: FloridaSDC.
Why is it important?
Self-direction is emerging as a promising model of service delivery for people with serious mental health conditions, and one that aligns with the federal focus on using individualized, person-centered care to effect recovery.