Vocational Services
There is good scientific evidence that working helps people recover from serious mental illness. At a macro-economic level, we know that outcome from schizophrenia is worse and admissions to hospital of working-age adults with psychosis are greater during periods of increased general unemployment. At the individual level, numerous controlled studies conducted since the early 1990s have identified improved non-vocational outcomes for subjects with serious mental illness who are working. Participation in an effective vocational program or having paid employment is associated with reduced psychiatric hospital admissions, reduced health-care costs and decreased positive and negative symptoms of psychosis. Successful work programs lead to increased quality of life, improved self-esteem, enhanced functioning, and an expanded social network.
Working helps
people recover
from serious
mental illness.
