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Editor's Comment
The delivery system for mental health and mental retardation services has undergone many changes in recent years. The delivery system is evolving in different ways in the various states. At this point in time, there is no commonly accepted system for the delivery of mental health and mental retardation services.
One organizational system that is evolving addresses the issue on a broader scale than just mental health and mental retardation. This includes the delivery of all “human services”. This is popularly known in the profession as “the umbrella concept”. Within recent years, several states have reorganized the mental health and mental retardation delivery system into the larger system that includes the concerns for all of those matters relating to, for, and about humans.
Human services is defined differently in the various states, and the delivery system may vary from state-to-state. The following article refers to the delivery system for human services as designed by the Governor, the Legislature, the professionals, and the people of the State of Kansas. Kansas has long been a state noted for its progress in mental health.
The following article is written by a person who brings considerable experience and expertise to the delivery of human services. Robert C. Harder, Th.D., has been a pastor of a church in Topeka, Kansas. He has been an elected representative to the Kansas State Legislature for a six year period during the 1960's. In the political and administrative arena, he has also been Director of the Topeka Office for Economic Opportunity, Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Governor of Kansas, Director of Community Resources Development, League of Kansas Municipalities, Director of the State Department of Social Welfare, and is currently Secretary of the State Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. In the academic arena, Dr. Harder has been Research Associate at Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kansas; Instructor at Washburn University; and Assistant Professor at Kansas University School of Social Welfare. Dr. Harder brings a quite varied educational and experience background to the problem of human services.
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Harder, R.C. Reorganization in Kansas of the delivery system for human services. Journal of Mental Health Administration 3, 31–40 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02828519
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02828519