A multidisciplinary public-academic liaison to improve public mental health services in South Carolina

The state of South Carolina is in the process of transforming its core services for people with severe and persistent mental illnesses to a community-based model. This paper describes the planning and on-going implementation of an alliance of academic programs, mental health advocates, and service providers forged by the state department of mental health in 1990. Goals of the consortium are to develop graduates who possess the needed knowledge, skills, and attitudes to work in the public sector; to undertake collaborative research to improve services in that sector; and to maintain the effectiveness and satisfaction of current workers in the public system. The authors describe activities of the consortium to achieve these goals and give examples of enhanced academic involvement in the public mental health system as a result of the consortium's activities.