Q Break the class up into three groups based on different political ideologies: conservative, liberal, and socialist. (Assign these groups, do not let students choose, so that part of the exercise stretches students to think outside of their preferred political belief system.) Choose a major policy that frames the provision of mental health services (i.e., the Community Mental Health Act). Have each of the groups work among themselves to create a new mental health policy based in the political ideology supported by each party. Each of the created policies should have the following parts: A title. A description of the major parts of the policy and how they work to provide mental health services across the states. Describe the funding source for the new policy (is the program community-funded, state- funded, or federally funded?). Outline how the underlying political ideology framed the creation of the new policy (big government versus small government). Describe clearly who is included in the policy and if there are any individuals who are excluded. This should identify if the provision of services is considered a right (able to be accessed by all) or if there is a means test that discerns who can access services (i.e., poverty threshold). Once each group has its new policies created, bring the class back together to share each of the group’s policies. Open a class discussion on the strong and weak points of each of the proposed policies.
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