Aspects of Mental Health Consultation

THE WORDS "consultant" or "consultation" have had in all fields and all periods of history a wide variety of meanings, the most common of which have been the meeting of two or more persons for the purpose of deliberating or conferring about some matter of mutual concern. The consultant, therefore, is one who speaks to another person or group or gives advice or counsel to someone else (consultee) about matters Pertaining to the consultant's specialized area of knowledge. Recent developments in community mental health practice have made it necessary to define the place of consultation within the increasingly complex field of community mental health and community psychiatry. Mental health consultation as it is conceived by this writer represents a variety of approaches ranging from interest and concern with helping the consultee understand more clearly the nature of his client's difficulties in psychodynamic