Stigma, occupational injustice, and individualization of systemic issues: current issues faced by community dwelling adults with serious mental illnesses

Abstract

Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. As of 2019, it is estimated that 13.1 million adults aged 18 or older are living with an SMI in the United States. Community-dwelling adults with SMI have identified many benefits that help with carrying out needed activities in the community but also face many barriers such as (internalized) stigma, occupational injustice, and individualization of systemic issues. It is imperative for practitioners to understand how these barriers impact participation and create better ways to understand and center the voices of this population in assessment and intervention and work to address barriers at both an individual and systems level.

Keywords:

• Serious mental illness
• self-determination
• stigma
• occupational justice
• community-based mental health
• lived experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.