Vocational capacity among individuals with mental health disabilities

Abstract

Decades have passed since individuals with mental health disabilities, particularly those with serious mental illness, were widely considered unable to sustain work. Many individuals were housed in institutional settings, but those in the community were often labeled unemployable. With the advent of deinstitutionalization in the 1960s and 1970s, individuals with more severe mental health problems were served using a train and place model of vocational rehabilitation services, delivered primarily in sheltered workshops. This approach dictated that individuals be placed in work-like settings in order to be trained, sometimes for years at a time, prior to being placed in employment. With the recent evolution of supported employment, the prevailing approach has become place and train, introducing the concept of rapid entry into employment with wraparound supports. The cornerstone of supported employment is the philosophy that the majority of individuals with mental health disabilities who want to work, can work. But what have these last few decades of community-based vocational rehabilitation services revealed in terms of the capacity of individuals with mental health disabilities to enter into the workplace and maintain employment? We explore in this chapter the empirical findings and knowledge regarding the assessment and prediction of vocational capacity among individuals with significant mental health problems. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.