Usefulness of Targets in Supported Employment Programs for Persons with Severe Mental Illness: an Employment Counsellors Perspective

Abstract

Over 20% of the population in Canada will receive a diagnosis of Mental Illness in their lifetime with 5% of this population experiencing symptoms of Severe Mental Illness (SMI) (Health Canada, 2002). Long term competitive employment has long since been known to increase psychosocial functionality of people who are struggling with a SMI, yet employment rates for this population are still chronically low, averaging between 10 to 20% (Meuser, Clark, Haines, Drake, McHugo, Essock, Bond, Becker, Wolfe & Swain, 2004). Many different employment programs have been developed over the years to help increase vocational success with people with SMI with little success. As a way to further mitigate problematic employment programs, targets have been implemented with the goal of increasing program fidelity and success.