The Mental Health Technician: Maryland's Design for a New Health Career

Alternative pathways to traditional graduate education and the national emergence of community college curricula leading to associate of arts degrees in a variety of human service fields are discussed in relation to Maryland's mental health technician program. Emphasizing the need, initially, for "generalist" skills, the author proposes an open-ended system for the technicians' continued educational and professional growth through subspecialty in-service courses, opportunities for advanced collegiate education, and administrative channels for lateral and vertical mobility.