Persons Served in Community Mental Health Programs and Employment

Data Note 17, 2008

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By Frank A. Smith and Samita Bhattarai.

State Mental Health Agencies provide a wide range of supports to consumers including rehabilitation services, vocational and pre vocational training, and supported and competitive employment supports. This Data Note explores how states vary in number of individuals served in Community Mental Health Programs, i.e., all services not provided in an inpatient setting, who are employed as well as the percentage of individuals served in Community Mental Health Programs who are employed. “Employed” is defined as competitively employed (full or part-time) at the last assessment available during the reporting year. Looking at the table below, we can see that in 2006 22% of all persons served nationally in a Community Mental Health Program were employed. The number of individuals employed ranged from 401 in Iowa to 82,571 in New Jersey. The percentage employed varied from 8% in California to 48% in Wyoming.

The wide range in number and percentage of individuals employed is not necessarily indicative of success or failure when comparing a state to one or many states. Factors such as the percentage of persons served in Community Mental Health Programs for which employment status is known can affect the final numbers and percentages reported. These variations suggest a need for further research to help policymakers understand the factors responsible for such wide variation and to help determine successful strategies for gaining employment outcomes for persons served in Community Mental Health Programs.

*This column includes only persons for whom employment status was known at the time of data collection.

Suggested Citation

Smith, F.A.. and Bhattarai, S., 2008. Persons Served in Community Mental Health Programs and Employment. DataNote Series, Data Note XVII. Boston, MA: Institute for Community Inclusion.

StateData.infoA project of the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston This is a publication of StateData.info, funded in part by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (#90DN0216).

The recommended citation for these charts and data is: Institute for Community Inclusion. (n.d.) StateData.info. Retrieved [today's date] from http://www.statedata.info.

This is a project of the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston supported in part by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under cooperative agreement #90DN0126 with additional support from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education under grant #H133A021503. The opinions contained in this website are those of the grantee and do not necessarily reflect those of the funders.