People whose lives have been affected by mental illnesses (and especially those who may have had contact with the criminal justice system) develop a vast reservoir of experience that can be put to constructive use to meet their immediate needs, those of their peers, and, ultimately, those of their communities. In too many places, however, this reservoir still remains untapped, and consumers and families have little meaningful involvement in determining the direction of services and a system that are meant to meet their needs.

In the 1980s, Congress recognized the value of including consumers and families in mental health services planning when it created the precursors to today's statewide mental health planning and advisory councils. A major requirement for the composition of the councils is that at least 50 percent of their membership be drawn from the ranks of consumers or family members. The intention is to make councils responsive to consumers and family members by incorporating their perspective in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of mental health services.

Consumers and family members can also make important contributions to service delivery. Evidence is mounting to demonstrate the effectiveness of consumer-operated support services, for example, in which people with mental illness help others to gain insight into their illnesses and build coping strategies. Such preventive measures may diminish the need for, and use of, crisis services.

Similarly, some programs employ consumers to act as "peer educators," who can provide generalized information about handling mental illness in a manner that is authenticated by their own experiences. Peer educators frequently run groups for consumers at mental health service agencies in which they discuss issues of common concern. By removing the experience of mental illness from a wholly clinical approach, peer educator programs often allow people to make connections with one another and understand how to deal with their illnesses in a more individualized way. Consumer-operated services such as these should be implemented as part of the continuum of services that also includes professional services, not as a replacement for the professional system.