Developing Effective Mental Health Organizations. Summary Progress Report of the Continuing Education in Mental Health Administration Grant Project

摘要

Because existing management literature and training are based on the needs of private industry and do not address the special problems of mental health administrators, a special 15 - month management development effort was designed. Management teams from eight San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.) agencies participated. Because the 12 - county area was too large to make a single series of seminars feasible, the participants were divided into two groups; teams from the North Bay and the South Bay areas. Each set of seminars was as close in content as possible, but the needs of the administrators dictated some major changes between the two presentations. A detailed discussion on the conflict between participant needs and evaluation needs closed with participant needs prevailing. After 8 months, agency staff reported little change in operations, but managers felt they enjoyed much greater cooperation. Findings also indicated that managers were much more interested in learning skills than theory, and that they retained those items which were most relevant to their own situations. The training structure also proved important as the program required that participating agencies attend as top management teams and not as individuals. As a result, teamwork was emphasized. The trainer also addressed them as managers, drawing them into a new way of thinking of themselves; most were originally therapists and tended to slip back into that role. Program materials are described in detail, and statistical tables summarize the favorable evaluation findings.