Innovating in community mental health

the long version

Innovating in Community, Mental Health presents lively examples of successful attempts to change mental health service systems in innovative ways to achieve the goal of providing care for persons with severe mental illness. These examples are drawn from such diverse national settings as Italy, Russia, Germany, England, China, and the United States, and involve a range of strategies from treatment teams of professionals, grassroots community organizations, consumer cooperatives, professional-volunteer teamwork, and housing-based alternatives. The stories of these varied innovations are told by established, knowledgeable scholars from each of the featured countries. The editors help us understand the triumphs and pitfalls involved in these innovations through the presentation of a broad, research-based theory of innovation and change, which is used to guide the presentation of the examples and subsequently to determine their similarities and differences.