TY - JOUR
T1 - Merging the fields of mental health and social enterprise
T2 - Lessons from abroad and cumulative findings from research with homeless youths
AU - Ferguson, Kristin M.
N1 - Funding Information:
larger grants to test their effectiveness in RCT studies. The author is currently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to conduct an effectiveness study of the SEI with homeless youths with mental illness. SEI pilot data were crucial in preparing a successful proposal.
Funding Information:
Second, federal mental health funding traditionally has not supported social enterprises as a behavioral intervention for populations with mental illness. Review of study abstracts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) from 1985 to 2009 using the search terms ‘‘social enterprise,’’ ‘‘social firm,’’ ‘‘affirmative business,’’ ‘‘vocational cooperative,’’ and ‘‘small business intervention’’ reveals that to date, no social enterprise intervention has been funded by NIH. One NIMH-funded abstract does appear under the search term ‘‘social enterprise.’’ This R01 study explores prisoners’ views about research as a social enterprise. The principal investigator’s use of ‘‘social enterprise’’ refers to research as an activity that is endorsed by society as potentially contributing to the social good, and which necessarily involves cooperation between scientists (in their roles as investigators) and individual citizens (in agreeing to be participants), with the focus on informed consent as a necessary safeguard for protecting research participants (personal communication, N. Poythress, September 3, 2009). Review of RePORTER abstracts clearly highlights the dearth of federally funded social enterprise interventions with populations with severe mental illness.
PY - 2012/8
Y1 - 2012/8
N2 - Despite the growing integration of supported employment within the mental health system in the United States as well as the widespread use of social enterprises abroad, the fields of mental health and social enterprises remain largely separate in the USA. The mental health field currently lacks a response that strengthens homeless youths' existing human and social capital, provides them with marketable job skills and employment, and impacts their mental health. To address this gap, this paper establishes a case for using social enterprises with homeless youths, drawing on both global precedents and findings from a mixed-methods study of a social enterprise intervention with homeless youths. Recommendations are offered for how to integrate social enterprises with mental health treatment as well as how to evaluate their impact on mental health outcomes.
AB - Despite the growing integration of supported employment within the mental health system in the United States as well as the widespread use of social enterprises abroad, the fields of mental health and social enterprises remain largely separate in the USA. The mental health field currently lacks a response that strengthens homeless youths' existing human and social capital, provides them with marketable job skills and employment, and impacts their mental health. To address this gap, this paper establishes a case for using social enterprises with homeless youths, drawing on both global precedents and findings from a mixed-methods study of a social enterprise intervention with homeless youths. Recommendations are offered for how to integrate social enterprises with mental health treatment as well as how to evaluate their impact on mental health outcomes.
KW - Homeless youths
KW - Mental health
KW - Severe mental illness
KW - Social enterprise
KW - Supported employment
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U2 - 10.1007/s10597-011-9440-7
DO - 10.1007/s10597-011-9440-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 21964720
AN - SCOPUS:84866552879
SN - 0010-3853
VL - 48
SP - 490
EP - 502
JO - Community Mental Health Journal
JF - Community Mental Health Journal
IS - 4
ER -