Sociology

Behavioral programs are initiatives made to assist or help change attitudes and practices related to development of sound reasoning in human beings. Its a common understanding that people learn best when they actively reflect and construct their own understanding (Kevin 2005). Indeed such program is as I witnessed in a mental illness center, a program offering services for individuals with serious mental illness giving them opportunity an opportunity to recover and create vision for them and enable to become a reality in a wellness environment which I visited.

This program came into being with the realization by communities of the value for basic care for people with mental illness since they are part and parcel of their community and received governments support through the national primary care behavioral health council. This program targets the people with mental illness and constituted programs such as recovery support and facilitation providing counseling, medication, psychiatric consultation focusing on ensuring ability to control life. In addition, this mental illness center provides alcohol, drugs, and mental health issues program providing psycho-educational and interactive skills building. Furthermore, Laura said they provided vocational rehabilitation program assisting their patients with work exploration, job coaching to enable those who got full recovery ability to rebuild their lives and access employment like other persons with sound mind. All these programs were incorporated in their vision to create recovery environment and help mentally ill persons to have vision and rebuild their lives back.

To measure the effectiveness of the intervention programs, Laura explained that those who had gotten full recovery came back to the center to show their appreciation by even pledging support to the center in material terms or whichever way they were able. In addition, the center had established a communication channel with the local community and government agencies to report the progress of those who had left the center and had gotten overwhelmingly positive response from both sources. Furthermore, the center through its vocational rehabilitation program had made a significant observation through its own sustenance projects such as workshops used in vocational training in which those given job coaching were able to showcase their skills.

The mental illness center had new programs as Laura informed me their intention to establish project connect an outreach and case management service for homeless people since they perceived them to likely suffer mental disturbance because of their environment.

The theory represented in these programs is based on constructivism, with emphasis on the mentally sick, for them to recover positive attitude and sound minds to take control and build their lives back once recovered. In this case, mentally sick persons recover fast completely when in an environment where they can receive treatment and then coaching by persons trained to handle mentally ill persons. This model assumes that medication and rehabilitation which are both inputs done through assessment of needs is important in rebuilding the lives of mentally sick persons and thus entire society and through the same, regain their states back and build the society together with sound minded persons. In return, they give back to the community and thus social wellbeing of the society.