[Alternative resources and intermediate structures in the context of Québec.].

In Québec, a consensus appears to have developed over the last few years around the need to develop community-based resources in mental health. However, the concept of community resources is fragmented: there is a conceptual distinction between Alternative and Intermediary Resources, both of which are located outside the walls of the institution, but which have different objectives, and suggest different means for supporting the mentally disturbed in the community. Attempts to operationalize these concepts have tended to have the effect of masking their conceptual particularity. In this article, the conceptual distinctions - as they have developed in the Québec context - are clarified, and the implications of erasing them are discussed.