Our blog post “What are psychiatric disabilities?” has been popular with our readers this year. In this update, we would like to highlight the work of the following NIDILRR-funded projects:

• The Manual and Training Program to Promote Career Development Among Transition Age youth and Young Adults with Psychiatric Conditions is developing an innovative career development intervention, Helping Youth on the Path to Employment (HYPE), that will be refined into a manual and training program to integrate supported education with supported employment and other vocational services to better support transition-age youth and young adults with psychiatric conditions in achieving self-sufficient lives.
• The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Improving Employment Outcomes for Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities has developed the Recovery Promoting Competencies Toolkit, which is designed to support a wide range of service providers looking to promote the recovery of people with mental health conditions, including those experiencing serious mental illnesses. The Toolkit includes information, materials, and training programs to help enhance providers’ ability to deliver recovery-oriented practice and is available in English and Spanish.
• The Temple University Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Community Living and Participation of Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities (TU Collaborative) has developed social media related community inclusion resources that include the use of social media to enhance community participation for people with mental illnesses and building an online presence to promote community inclusion. The TU Collaborative has also developed two infographics based on their research on social media use, community participation, civic engagement, and psychosocial outcomes and how to utilize social media to support community integration.

If you would like to learn more about what the NIDILRR-funded projects are doing in the area of psychiatric disabilities and mental health, please visit REHABDATA or contact NARIC’s information specialists to assist you in your search.