The role of a regional treatment center in a model mental health delivery system.

The author discusses the changes that have occurred at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin, in response to the growth of the community movement. He traces Mendota's evolution from a traditional state hospital to a regional center that offers specialized treatment services for those who cannot be cared for in community programs, and that places strong emphasis on education and consultation services and on research into treatment methods. He believes a major problem with the community mental health movement has been the expectation that community services should be able to meet all the needs of the people in their areas, an expectation that he considers impossible to fulfill. He proposes a mental health delivery system with primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of care (at the third level would be regional centers similar to Mendota), and a fourth level that would provide protective care.