The CECMH was created with a generous three-year grant from The Duke Endowment. Our clinical programs are also supported by Cross Area Services Program (CASP) funding from the Division of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Disabilities. The UNC Center for Public Service supported efforts to create The Family Guide to Severe Mental Illness in 2000.
http://www.dukeendowment.org/
http://www.ncdhhs.gov/mhddsas/
http://www.unc.edu/cps/
OASIS was created with grants from The Duke Endowment and Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in 2005.
http://www.kbr.org/
Brushes with Life has just received a grant from the Strowd Roses Foundation in Chapel Hill.
http://www.strowdroses.org/
The publication of Our Voices: First Person Accounts of Schizophrenia was supported by a gift from an anonymous donor.
We are grateful for the generous financial support from these partners. We continue to accept donations from individuals and organizations that share the vision of a better life for people living with mental illness.
To make a donation, click here.
Creating partnerships with other University departments, as well as with local and state organizations and agencies, not only works from the standpoint of creating better care for people with mental illness, it is a way to make better use of the resources we each have.
Most individuals who develop a schizophrenic psychotic disorder will have a chronic illness. The severity of positive, negative, cognitive, and mood symptoms is highly variable, as is the severity of social and vocational disability. Long-term outcome varies from sustained recovery, to recurrent episodes with recovery between episodes, to varying severity of chronic, disabling, residual symptoms." (Source: Textbook of Schizophrenia, p. 290)
In our experience, a small group of people recovers almost fully with ongoing treatment, achieving satisfying work and social lives. A small proportion of people on the other end of the spectrum are severely disabled, unable to live independently or to care for themselves. The majority of people with schizophrenia fall somewhere in between. They live with some functional impairments and periodic crises, but also with skills, meaningful relationships, and engagement with their communities during significant periods of stability.
Most people whose psychosis is untreated have a period of up to five years when they experience a series of psychotic episodes, with decreased functioning after each episode. After that initial period, functioning tends to plateau, and remain at a similar level, despite crises. This new baseline may be very different from their level of functioning before they got sick (called "premorbid"). It is our belief that with earlier treatment to prevent or delay some of those early episodes, a person's long-term level of functioning may be higher.
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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