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Below, you will find information about the concepts of empowerment and self-determination in psychiatric rehabilitation. Helpful tools and techniques are offered to assist recovering individuals to stay well, prevent relapse and relieve symptoms.

• Empowerment
• Self-Determination
• Publications
   

• A Working Definition of Empowerment
   
• Wellness Tools and Techniques for Recovering Individuals
  • Developing a Wellness Toolbox
  • Helping Yourself Prevent Relapse
  • Recovering your mental health Ohio Advocates:  A Self-Help Guide
  • The Freedom Self-Advocacy Curriculum
  • Wellness Toolkit
     

“Self-determination refers to the right of individuals to have full power over their own lives, regardless of presence of illness or disability. It encompasses concepts such as free will, civil and human rights, freedom of choice, independence, personal agency, self-direction, and individual responsibility. Self-determination in the mental health system refers to individuals’ rights to direct their own services, to make the decisions concerning their health and well-being (with help from others of their choice, if desired), to be free from involuntary treatment, and to have a meaningful leadership role in the design, delivery and evaluation of services and supports.”

[Source: The UIC National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability]

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1. University of Illinois at Chicago National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability - UIC NRTC Self-Determination Series
   • Express Yourself: Assessing Self-Determination in Your Life
   • Raising Difficult Issues with Your Service Provider
   • Report of the 2004 Consumer Direction Initiative Summit: Free to Choose: Transforming Behavioral Health Care to Self-Direction
   • This Is Your Life! Creating Your Self-Directed Life Plan
   • Self-Determination for People with Psychiatric Disabilities: An Annotated Bibliography of Resources
      
2. The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
   • 2003 National Conference on Self-Determination for Mental Health Consumers/Survivors
   • Self-Determination in Mental Health Recovery, Taking Back Our Lives (Mary Ellen Copeland)
   • We Make the Road by Traveling on It, The National Self-Determination and Psychiatric Disability Invitational Conference
      
3. Center for Self-Determination
   • Center for Self-Determination
      
4. Bazelton Center
   • Forms for Creating an Advance Psychiatric Directive
   • Power in Planning: Self Determination through Advance Psychiatric Directives
      
5.  ILRU Community Living Partnership, National State-to-State Technical Assistance Center
   • Promoting Self Direction and Consumer Control in Home and Community Based Service Systems

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***Please Note: The department name has changed to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services on July 1, 2009 (from the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services).  The department’s new Web site address is www.dbhds.virginia.gov.  The previous Web site address will continue to work for up to a year after July 1, 2009.***