Supported Education: A Portrait of a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Intervention

Abstract

This article provides a thorough overview of supported education, tracing its inception and evolution as an application of the psychiatric rehabilitation approach. A host of factors, including disability legislation, supported employment, recognition of stigma, expanded access to college campuses, and new research and dissemination initiatives have all helped to develop, define, and document the components of supported education (SEd). This article illustrates that the essence of SEd is the process of psychiatric rehabilitation, with its unique client-centered focus: a well-defined mission, principles and philosophy of strength and hope; individualized goal setting and readiness, skill, and support assessments; and personalized skill and resource development. An in-depth discussion of the process needed to choose, get, and keep an educational path illustrates the application of the psychiatric rehabilitation approach. SEd may also go beyond rehabilitation to assist in the process of recovery. New studies in recovery and its phases present hope that supported education can play a key role in providing new and powerful opportunities for people who are in the process of adjusting to psychiatric disability and trying to move beyond its pervasive impact.