Characteristics and service use of participants in a large consumer-operated service agency.

Objective: Administrative data were used to examine the demographic and service-use characteristics of participants in a large consumer-operated agency in New York City (NYC).
Method: Demographic characteristics for all consumer-operated agency participants in 2011 (N = 3,296) were compared with data from the 2011 Office of Mental Health Patient Characteristics Survey (N = 87,131).
Results: Consumer-operated participants were more likely to be male and diagnosed with a mood disorder, and less likely to be Latino/a than public mental health recipients. "Advocacy" and "Self-Help Services" were used by 80% of service recipients, and lengths-of-stay averaged less than 6 months.
Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Self-help services were the most common consumer-operated service used in NYC. Given the demographic differences noted, consumer-operated service providers may need to take additional steps to engage women, Latinos, and persons diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders to reach the full range of public mental health consumers.