[Public vocational integration: a new method for integrating psychiatrically handicapped patients into occupational...

Suitable conditions of employment represent a central factor in the rehabilitation of mentally ill people. In this case both the normality of the job--as felt by the individual--and adequate instrumental and social working conditions are determining factors. According to the ideas of the Workshop for the Handicapped (Werkstatt für Behinderte) and the movement for the Self-help Firms, the integration of the mentally ill into normal jobs is an important step in the right direction. Appropriate preparations (i.e. assessment of patients' working capabilities and the drawing up of expectation profiles, work-preparation measures) and well-organized follow-up care are required to achieve this. Statutes which make access easier must be created in the fields of both labour and social law in order to make integration into the labour market possible. In this respect the non profit-making provision of employees (Gemeinnützige Arbeitnehmerüberlassung) represents a model. The procedure has been described and first experiences with its realization have been reported upon.