The legend and lessons of Geel, Belgium: a1500-year-old legend, a 21st-Century model

Authors:
GOLDSTEIN Jackie L., GODEMONT Marc M. L.
Journal article citation:
Community Mental Health Journal, 39(5), October 2003, pp.441-458.
Publisher:
Springer

Geel, Belgium, is the home of a legendary system of foster family care for people with mental illness. The current status of Geel's modern system of integrated community care and the 700-year history of this system (including the 10-year-long, international, multi-disciplinary Geel Research Project) are described. As a case study, Geel offers a microcosmic encapsulation of major issues related to mental illness. Though these issues have been dealt with across time and in all places, here they are contained in a single community. This is a case study can help other communities to identify significant factors that contribute to successful community mental health programmes.

Subject terms:
mental health problems, models, shared lives schemes, communities, community mental health services, foster care;
Location(s):
Belgium
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN online:
1573-2789
ISSN print:
0010-3853

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