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Planning and the environment of a community mental health center

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Abstract

“In community mental health centers with poorly developed planning units... the director may find himself in a state of intermittent crisis attempting to meet one unanticipated environmental problem after another. Such a reactive stance to environmental events makes it difficult a reactive stance to environmental events makes it difficult to be proactive in developing innovative programs, since organizational resources are quickly captured by makeshift attempts to deal with a series of emergencies.”

A hypothetical case study illustrates how easy it is to fall into this trap even after elaborate and seemingly intelligent planning.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program Research Unit, the Laboratory of Community Psychiatry, 58 Fenwood Road, 02115, Boston, Mass

    Frank Baker Ph.D. (Head)

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 58 Fenwood Road, 02115, Boston, Mass

    Frank Baker Ph.D. (Head)

Authors
  1. Frank Baker Ph.D.
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Additional information

Preparation of this paper was supported by NIMH Grant #MH18382.

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Baker, F. Planning and the environment of a community mental health center. Psych Quar 46, 95–108 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01563635

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