ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to propose mental health consultation as a tool to help other professionals incorporate a preventive mental health element into their daily work, and summarizes some of the more important principles of population-oriented psychiatry. Although our Harvard group developed many of the concepts and methods of community mental health centres such as crisis intervention, mental health consultation, and support-systems, and although the group was influential in molding the planning of community mental health centre legislation, we never actually worked in a community health centre. The consultant has a coordinate, non-hierarchical power relationship with the consultee that is expressed by the consultant’s nonacceptance of administrative authority over the consultee’s actions, or professional responsibility for the client’s welfare. Increasing experience has emphasized the value of orderly and unhurried reflection during consultation discussions, which increases the consultee’s awareness of the range of options and counteracts premature emotionally based closure.
