The Mental Health Expediter

Abstract

THE MENTAL health expediter is a transfer of the industrial expediter function to a mental health services setting. The idea in both settings is much the same: the expediter coordinates a number of events to see that they happen and in such a manner that an overall good outcome occurs. The development of new types of mental health cadre is an active topic in the literature.^1-3 Expediter functions are discussed by Reiff and Reissman in their monograph on the indigenous nonprofessional.⁴ They attribute the value of the expediter (1) to problems caused by the fragmentation of health and welfare services in most communities, and (2) to the reduced managerial competence of the ordinary public mental health patient: The expediter is a link between the client and the community's resources. As such, he performs the following jobs: (1) He maintains a complete roster of service agencies