Towards Hybridization: The Roles of Swedish Non-Profit Organizations Within Mental Health

In many parts of the Western world, interventions for people with mental illness have radically changed in recent decades.
In the deinstitutionalized system of today, the role for non-profit organizations is generally characterized by dual goals:
political advocacy and service provision. Here, the role and function of the user movement in the Swedish mental health system is examined through a case study of
all local branches of the largest non-profit organization within the Swedish mental health field. The empirical material consisted
of annual reports from all local branches, and was analysed through two analytical schemes, concerning voice/service and conflict/consensus.
The analysis pointed to a user movement that still retained the basic ideas of peer support and mutual aid, but were also
increasingly being asked by formal service providers to represent the need of users. A hybrid organization category, a ‘Social
Movement Peer Organization’, was identified that where social recreational activities are combined with local political advocacy.