Family mental health maintenance: a new approach to primary prevention.

The authors describe an approach to primary prevention in which indirect services are redefined to include community services aimed at promoting mental health and preventing emotional and mental disorders. At the Peninsula Hospital Community Mental Health Center such services are family-focused and include consultation, education, collaboration with other agencies, and early intervention with children and families with special needs. The authors describe some of the programs that have been developed and discuss how mental health Centers can conceivably, under contract, develop such community services for health maintenance organizations and other prepayment plans that provide comprehensive health maintenance and medical care.