Resistance to mental health consultation directed at change in public institutions

Abstract

Mental health consultants need to be aware that institutions in a community are frequently resistant to change. Official agreement that change is necessary may still evoke resistance by those individuals most threatened in the agency. The consultant's awareness of how such resistance is manifest and used permits some educative counterefforts which may be effective. There is a brief review of the literature, and case examples are given of effective and noneffective consultation.