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State of Spirituality-Infused Mental Health Services in Los Angeles County Wellness and Client-Run Centers

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Abstract

Spiritual coping is associated with positive mental health outcomes for individuals with serious mental illness, yet spirituality-infused services are seldom offered in public sector mental health agencies. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health introduced a policy addressing spirituality in 2012. This study explored the breadth and degree to which spirituality-infused activities were being offered in 53 Los Angeles wellness and recovery centers after the policy was widely disseminated. More than 98 % of the centers offered options for spirituality-infused activities; one-third offered spirituality-focused groups. Los Angeles’s progress may guide implementation of spirituality-infused services in other state or local public mental health systems.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the School of Social Work, University of Southern California. The first five authors were volunteers with the Los Angeles County DMH, under the supervision of Adrienne Cedro-Hament, L.C.S.W. while the project was conducted and we would like to thank her for her support and leadership in promoting spirituality-infused activities over the past decade. The sixth author was a consultant for the Los Angeles County DMH. Andrew M. Subica’s contribution to this project was partially supported by grant UL1RRO31986 from the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources, the National Institutes of Health, or the Los Angeles County DMH.

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  1. Min Ah Kim

    Present address: School of Social Welfare, Research Faculty, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-Ro, Seodaemun-Gu, Seoul, 120-749, Korea

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Southern California, 669 West 34th Street, Montgomery Ross Fisher Bldg, 102C, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Ann-Marie Yamada, Andrew M. Subica, Min Ah Kim, Kevin Van Nguyen & Caroline S. Lim

  2. PO Box 41812, Santa Barbara, CA, 93140, USA

    Laura L. Mancuso

Authors
  1. Ann-Marie Yamada
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  2. Andrew M. Subica
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  4. Kevin Van Nguyen
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  6. Laura L. Mancuso
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Correspondence to Ann-Marie Yamada.

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Yamada, AM., Subica, A.M., Kim, M.A. et al. State of Spirituality-Infused Mental Health Services in Los Angeles County Wellness and Client-Run Centers. Adm Policy Ment Health 41, 835–844 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0536-6

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