Supported Education Enhancing Rehabilitation (SEER): A Community Mental Health and Community College Partnership for Access and Retention

Abstract

Individuals who are recovering from psychiatric disabilities often need specialized programs in order to prepare for, gain access to, and sustain participation in college education and the vocational opportunities that will hopefully follow a degree. A unique supported education program located on a community college campus in Spokane, Washington, known as SEER (Supported Education Enhancing Rehabilitation) is a vocational and educational partnership that delivers its services in the form of one-to-one, on-site support, thereby ensuring that educational recovery is not a process consumers will have to endure on their own. This article outlines the unique program components of SEER while recognizing the need for more research attention on the factors that promote educational and vocational success, so that they might be replicated across the country.