[The resource orientated integration of chronic mentally ill into regular employment via "One-Euro-Jobs"--initial experiences of a model project].

Until recently the vocational rehabilitation of chronic mentally ill often resulted in employment in the framework of sheltered workshops. There are an increased number of workshops and day clinics but in this context the patient does not come in contact with the everyday working environment. However, several multicenter studies demonstrated that "Individual Placement Support" (IPS) is more effective than vocational services. The aim of our project is to show that this concept is applicable even to patients with chronic and severe psychiatric diseases. We created "One-Euro-Jobs" for patients with chronic mental illnesses within regular employments in the confinements of our clinic. The choice of workplace was carried out according to the individual experience and knowledge and included the library, central buying and post office. Until now 15 mentally ill patients with an average disease duration of 11 years were included in the project. 1 patient discontinued within the first 3 weeks. The others were occupied on average for 9 months. Our project shows that integration of chronically mental ill patients in regular employment environments is possible. Concerns that the pressure and stress would be too extreme were proved to be unfounded.