I am in the process of trying to organize an ethics
committee at a large community mental health center in
Central Massachusetts and am seeking advice from anyone
with experience in this or a similar milieu. The agency
is a large (almost 700 employees), nonprofit, community-based
program that operates under the auspices of a broad, academically
affiliated, behavioral health system. An independent board
of trustees, responsible to the parent organization governs
the agency. The agency primarily provides outpatient care
and treatment to adults and children with mental health,
substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and homelessness
issues. It does not provide any psychiatric emergency or
acute in-patient mental health services but does operate
an inpatient detoxification unit for substance abuse treatment
and “first offender” DUI program. Additionally,
the agency has a vast network of residential programs and
transitional facilities for individuals with a history
of chronic mental illness and substance abuse problems.
Outpatient medical care is also provided to homeless clients
who reside in area shelters (including a “wet”
shelter for men and women) and a large number of clients who
have HIV/AIDS and/or who have been dually diagnosed (substance
abuse and mental illness), and are part of a scattered-site
supportive housing program.
A Randomized Trial of Medical Care Management for Community Mental Health Settings: The Primary Care Access, Referral, and Evaluation (PCARE) Study
