Individual Funding for People With Mental Health Issues: Opportunities, Tensions, and Outcomes

This chapter outlines the key features of individual funding programs and examines their suitability for people with mental illness. This is a contested area with some writers concerned that mental illness is different from other types of disability and unsuitable for individual funding. The recovery model and the episodic nature of mental illness are seen as conflicting with individual funding eligibility criteria for consistent and permanent disability. The counter view is that flexible individual funding is ideally suited to meeting the fluctuating needs of people with mental illness: its key principles of empowerment and self-direction being consistent with the recovery paradigm. Evidence from Australian and international studies is reviewed, suggesting that successful outcomes can be achieved if the necessary supports and resources are available to meet people's needs.