Been reading a book called “If Your Adolescent Has Schizophrenia” by Dr. Raquel E. Gur and Dr. Ann Braden Johnson… very good reading… it mentions a program that used to exist:
“Located in Boston, Massachusetts, Jump Start was a career de- velopment and mentoring program developed in 2002 for young adults aged 16 to 26 with psychiatric disabilities, including schizo- phrenia, whose needs had long been overlooked by traditional mental health providers, with their emphasis on symptom con- trol. Many of them had also “aged out” of the children’s mental health system, losing that system’s support in the process. Jump Start was designed to help these young people gain the skills, self-confidence, and education needed to transition effectively from school to independence through high-quality employment or college or both.”
One of the features of this program was mentoring. The program was on college campuses. It focused on recovery and not just alleviating symptoms. Despite its success, the program was no longer funded after its first year on the grounds that it only addressed one disability being mental illness. Such a shame… we need more program like this! What a benefit it would be for many young MI patients, including my daughter.