Public Community Mental Health Care in Nonprofit Organizations

• In Event: 037 - Section on Sociology of Mental Health Paper Session. Mental Health Services: Contexts and Consequences

Abstract

Contemporary public community mental health care is funded by government but often privately provided. The organizations that provide this care are frequently nonprofit in nature. This paper investigates these organizations. It first examines the dynamics of the contemporary nonprofit sector, and then narrows the focus to the nonprofit social service sector. Next, community mental health care providers are situated in this sector, examining the changing nature of public funding and how that affects the delivery of care. These themes are then explored in a case study of a community mental health provider and how it dealt with changes in state Medicaid funding. Strategies included resource diversification and rebranding.

Author

• Kerry Michael Dobransky, James Madison University