Training procedure for paraprofessionals in the field of mental health : enhancement of first echelon workers

Standard of living in the Western World has greatly increased during the last decade, having all but reached the welfare level. People being less occupied with the fulfilment of prima~ y (biological) needs, have become more sensitive to personal (psychological) difficulties; the attained higher standard of living is accompanied by striving to better living, also in the psychological sense of the word. Trirnbos (1972) formulated the problem in terms of looking for qualitative improvement after a quantitative improvement has been attained. The mental health service has proved to be unprepared for the requirements of this development; the number of helpers has remained limited, in comparison to the on growing needs in the community, the service is generally located outside the physical-social field of the consumer, mostly bureaucratic and of a complicated structure, as well as expensive and stigmatizing. In order to decrease the gap between demand and offer and thus to be able to supply help without delay, it seems necessary to increase use of paraprofessionals within the mental health care- and to improve the functioning of those who already actively participate in it.