Training the secretary in community mental health: a second model for integrating secretaries into the therapeutic team in community mental health.

The secretaries in community mental health centers have functions that transcend their job descriptions. Their performance of these functions contributes to the success or failure of their centers' therapeutic programs. The Mental Health Training Institute of North Carolina initiated two separate pilot training programs within 1971-1972, aimed at heightening the secretaries' appreciation of their role within their centers and at facilitating their integration into the therapeutic team. This paper is a discussion of the second of these two programs.