Barriers to individualized community support services: the impact of some current funding and conceptual models

Methods now used to fund and monitor community support services for long term mentally ill persons work at cross purposes to the goals they are to promote. Commonly, community supports are offered through a limited number of programs selected by systems managers. Often these programs have a primary goal of providing treatment or helping consumers achieve some higher purpose with only a secondary focus on the consumer obtaining wanted goods and services needed to develop and sustain an individualized community support network. Consumer directed vouchers offer a preferred alternative to these approaches.