About the Collaborative

The UPENN COLLABORATIVE ON COMMUNITY INTEGRATION, directed by Mark Salzer, Ph.D, is based at the University of Pennsylvania. It is conducted in partnership with The Clearinghouse at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Horizon House, Inc.

Funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), this five-year project is the first of its kind to focus on community integration of people with psychiatric disabilities. To that end, the Collaborative will:

1. target obstacles that prevent people from being full members of their communities;
2. develop supports to enhance community integration; and
3. expand the range of opportunities for people who have mental illnesses to participate in their communities as active, equal members.

These goals are further enhanced through collaboration with others who share our commitment and our vision. Key among these Collaborators are:

• Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
• University of Illinois at Chicago
• University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
• University of the Sciences in Philadelphia

Community Integration is the opportunity to live in the community and be valued for one's uniqueness and abilities, like everyone else.

Community integration encompasses: housing, employment, education, leisure/recreation, social roles, peer support, health status, citizenship, self-determination, and religion/spirituality. Community integration (or, the opportunity to live like everyone else) should result in community presence and participation of people with psychiatric disabilities similar to that of all others without a disability label (Salzer, 2006):

It is the mission of the UPenn Collaborative to lead the field in the development of the core concepts and practical technologies of community integration and to advance the centrality of community integration in the future development of policies and supports for people with serious psychiatric disabilities

The UPENN COLLABORATIVE is devoted to promoting the community integration vision as it pertains to people with psychiatric disabilities, to ensure that rights become reality. It will lead the mental health field in identifying and eliminating barriers to community integration and in developing supports which facilitate community integration outcomes and bring about meaningful changes in the lives of people with psychiatric disabilities.

The Collaborative focuses its efforts on the following areas: Community Integration Concept and History, Employment, Housing, Education, Citizenship, Language and Community Integration, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Olmstead decision, Social Roles, Peer Support, Self-Determination, Discrimination and Spirituality/Religion. (See the Community Integration Issue Pages for more details on these subjects.)

The UPENN COLLABORATIVE ON COMMUNTIY INTEGRATION is a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC).

So, what is an RRTC?

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) provides support for Rehabilitation Research & Training Centers to:

• Conduct new research to improve rehabilitation methodology and service delivery;
• Translate research findings into practice through training, technical assistance and dissemination.

These activities are expected to be mutually supportive with research, training and services to inform new knowledge. Dissemination brings both research to practice and new professionals to research and service

Citation for diagram: Salzer, M.S. (2006). Introduction. In M.S. Salzer (ed.), Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills in Practice: A CPRP Preparation and Skills Workbook. Columbia, MD.: United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association.