The movement toward treating those with mental illness in less restrictive environments gained momentum in 1963 with the enactment of the Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act. Deinstitutionalization, a deliberate shift from institutional care in state hospitals to community facilities, began. Community mental health centers serves smaller geographic catchment, or service, areas that provided less restrictive treatment located closer to individuals’ homes, families, and friends. These centers provided emergency care, inpatient care, outpatient services, partial hospitalization, screening services, and education. Thus deinstitutionalization accomplished the release of individuals from long-term stays in state institutions, the decrease
