COERCIVE  TREATMENT METHODS VS. CLIENT AUTONOMY

RE WORD FROM UCLA: Service recipients in public mental health often experience stigma related to living with a mental illness, and may also experience coercive treatment approaches that undermine their sense of agency, such as being monitored and pressured to follow provider-defined treatment plans (Choy-Brown et al., 2020). Evidence suggests that coercive methods in mental health services tend to elicit client disengagement and hopelessness, while person-centered and recovery-oriented approaches support clients’ self-efficacy and wellbeing. This training identifies recovery-oriented principles, such as targeting a broad range of life goals among Full Service Partnership (FSP) clients, and person-centered care strategies, such as emphasizing clients’ self-identified goals as the focus of treatment-planning activities. A review of intervention approaches to support person-centered care, such as using harm reduction and trauma informed frameworks, will be discussed.