Because of the increased focus on managed care there is a growing demand for alternatives to psychiatric hospital treatment. In Alternatives to the Hospital for Acute Psychiatric Care, a range of acute nonhospital treatment programs from the United states and abroad are described, including locked- and open-door, voluntary and involuntary, public and private, and nontraditional and strictly medical settings. Alternatives to the Hospital for Acute Psychiatric Care describes various cost-effective alternatives to psychiatric hospital care and provides specific details for mental health administrators to evaluate the usefulness and feasibility of the various models for their own mental health care setting.
Richard Warner is a psychiatrist who has specialized in the research and treatment of people with serious mental illness like schizophrenia. The treatment programs he has helped develop are community-based and include residential alternatives to the hospital for acute psychiatric treatment and intensive outpatient models of care and rehabilitation which enable people with these illnesses to live independently in the community and move forward with their lives. His research focuses on social and economic factors which affect recovery from schizophrenia and on the kinds of treatment programs which produce the best results.
Dr. Warner is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado. He was the Medical Director of the Mental Health Center of Boulder County for nearly 30 years and he is now the Director of Colorado Recovery, a residential and intensive outpatient treatment and rehabilitation program for people with serious mental illness. More information about Colorado Recovery is available at www.coloradorecovery.com.
