Our approach can make a real difference in the future of treatment and recovery for serious mental illness because we:
At the Center for Excellence, we’re backed by outstanding psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists, researchers, and other mental health professionals. We know what works. And we have what it takes to help move North Carolina’s mental health system from where it is today to a higher and more compassionate standard of care.
Although many people with mental illness are artists, musicians, writers, or otherwise gifted individuals (famous or not), they have those talents in spite of the illness, not because of it. Some people don't discover their talent, or have the time to develop it, until they become ill. But chances are they would have been creative even if they had not become ill. This doesn't mean their work is unaffected by their illness; because how prolific the work is, the themes it covers, or the media chosen may, in fact, be affected by the illness. But the myth that mental illness is the gateway to creativity doesn't hold up under scientific scrutiny.
Founded in January 2009, the Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health is part of the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Addressing quality of care and workforce development issues in North Carolina's mental health system, the Center and its clinical programs are supported by a three-year grant from The Duke Endowment, as well as Cross Area Services Program (CASP)
funds. The program operates in conjunction with multiple university, state, and community-based partners.
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