Disability Rights Florida and the Research Library at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida have joined together to create a collection of materials available to individuals with psychiatric disabilities and their supporters within the state of Florida. The material in the collection was selected with the assistance of the Florida Peer Network. The core collection, funded by money from Disability Rights Florida’s Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illnesses (PAIMI) grant from SAMHSA, has a variety of first-person accounts, handbooks, reference works, in print and media formats. Disability Rights Florida and the Institute Research Library are also working together to get information out to the larger mental health community via peer listservs, distribution lists, and websites.
Individuals will be able to request these items directly from the de la Parte Institute Research Library or through inter-library loan at their local public libraries. The Research Library is in the process of creating webpage that will provide information on how to search the collection online, then how to access the collection at FMHI or through the public library system. A mini-catalogue of these materials, much like the Library’s streaming video catalogue [http://videodb.fmhi.usf.edu/], will be created so visitors can virtually “browse” the shelves of the collection and note those items of most interest. “Having this collection of material available statewide is a dream we’ve had for some time as we firmly believe putting up to date recovery material in the hands of those who want it is a critical component in FL’s transformation of the mental health service system” according to Dana Farmer, Office of Public Policy at Disability Rights Florida. Ardis Hanson, director of the Research Library agrees, “In the mental health community, library-community partnerships, such as ours, provide opportunities for dialogue and interaction, with the goal of reducing stigma and promoting recovery.”
Disability Rights Florida is a statewide non-profit organization providing legally based protection and advocacy services for 30 years in the State of Florida. The de la Parte Institute (FMHI) Library has been an established resource for information on mental health research, policy, and treatment for over 30 years. Its core monographic and serial collection on managed behavioral health, health care reform, outcomes and accountability, behavioral health services research, and public health policy is unique within the state university system. Florida Peer Network, Inc. is a statewide independent non-profit of and for people who are recovering from psychiatric disabilities and co-occurring disorders.