Obstacles to Attending Treatment in an Urban Mental Health Clinic: A Client’s Perspective Approach to Identifying Factors Influencing Treatment Attendance

Abstract

The majority of clients seeking, and participating in, mental health treatment face a variety of barriers to their regular attendance; much of the focus, however, has continued to be centered around the experience of the provider and not on the client. The following research investigates the perceptions held by clients in an urban, low income, mental health setting, about what barriers they face. Clients completed a survey asking them to identify, on a likert scale, the degree to which they experienced barriers in several areas as they pertained to their mental health treatment. Clients also identified ways in which they believed they could be aided by the clinic in circumventing their barriers. The research findings, though descriptive in nature, point towards an institutional blind spot that allows for lower income clients to fall through the cracks of the mental health care industry.