At one supportive housing program for ex-psychiatric patients, there is even a tenant manual chock full of client involvement policies and opportunities. In 1985, I was recruited by the Canadian Mental Health Association to join its National Mental Health Services Committee precisely because I had been a psychiatric client. Our main project was The Framework For Support , a conceptual model that envisages an integrated mental health system with strong client and family involvement. Clients are also working with the Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Ministry of Health on employment support policies. However, the involvement does not always feel good.
Clients report that they often feel isolated, ignored or snowed under by bureaucratese.
They find the lack of urgency puzzling and infuriating. They are at risk of burn out because the same few people are asked to sit on lots of committees. And, of course, clients are often poor and lack the supports that many service providers take for granted. These supports may be as dramatic as lacking proper housing, and thus a safe place to keep an agenda, to not having money to take local transportation to meetings, or to buy lunch when other committee members are eating. Client involvement doesn't always feel good to service providers, either.