Drop-in centers for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness offer a unique and perhaps under-recognized environment option for adjunct treatment. The current study examines and evaluates components thought to be a part of an enriched drop-in center experience that contribute to positive member outcomes through the effects of empowerment. These components include self-help, peer support, and creative expression. Outcomes were evaluated based on quality of life, self-worth, and symptom reduction. Such data are necessary in promoting the growth and development of drop-in centers and identification of components that contribute to positive member outcomes. Participants (n=101) were administered a series of measures including The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, The Empowerment Scale, The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, The World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF, The BASIS-32™, and a series of questions created for the purposes of the current study regarding creative expression and self-help. The psychometric properties of each measure were evaluated and reviewed. Additionally, mean differences between normative data and participant means were examined and demographic data were analyzed. It was hypothesized from the literature that self-help, peer support, and creative expression would have significant indirect effects on all of the proposed outcome variables through the effects of empowerment. Results revealed significant indirect relationships between peer support and all of the outcome variables through the effects of empowerment and between self-help and all of the outcome variables through the effects of empowerment. No significant relationships were found between creative expression and any of the outcome variables through the effects of empowerment. These findings suggest that peer support and self-help may be instrumental in achieving positive outcomes through the effects of empowerment. Centers that offer experiences to enhance self-help and peer support will subsequently enhance feelings of empowerment in members, which relates to higher levels of self-worth, higher levels of quality of life, and lower levels of psychiatric symptomatology. Further implications of such findings and suggestions for continuation of this research are discussed in detail.

The volunteering is an indespensable phenomenon not just worldwide but also in the Czech Republic, especially in recent years. It has lost its negative reputation acquired in the socialist era and it is continously getting more respect and credit in the eyes of society. It is not just the youth or students, who decide to dedicate their time to the others. The volunteering is effectuated in many areas, the projects focus on different problems or support various target groups. This thesis treats of volunteering in the area of mental health support and presents organisations, which help clients with long-term mental illness and which cooperate with volunteers. Who are the people who volunteer in this area and what is their motivation to work with clients? Because of the fact that the projects are mostly unique, it is interesting to find out, how the organisations recruit the volunteers and what the main motivation reasons for volunteers are. The target of this survey, on which volunteers of 3 different organisations participated, was to find out what reasons for volunteering they had, what encouraged them and what support they expected from the volunteering program of the organisation. Key words: volunteering, volunteer, people with long-term mental illness, motivation of volunteers