Based on a North Carolina feasibility study (1967-73) which focused on development of a pattern for providing comprehensive mental health services to total people, this guide deals with strengthening and coordinating the existing services. Divided into three sections, this booklet details the successes and failures of program efforts in Vance and Franklin counties. The three-phase effort is identified as follows: (1) Developing the Helping Relationship: Workshop Methods Used to Build Core Helping Skills in Allied Agency Staffs (problems, goals, priorities; forces influencing behavior; self-image; helper's intent; sending and receiving communication; role expectations; helper's counter feelings; verbal recognition; building skills via sociodrama; defining issues; formulating choices; linking choices to motivation; verbalizing problems; face saving; and facing self); (2) Consultation, education, and Prevention Programming: The Concept of Effective Parsimony (conserving time, energy, and personnel via use of time trials, crisis support and brief counseling, agency coordination, inexpensive contact personnel, and a Lay Coordinator); (3) Strengthening the Mental Health Roles of the Existing Groups (General Practitioners; Public Health; Social Services; Agricultural Extension; Local Hospital Nurses; Local Nursing Homes; and A Prison Unit Staff on Alcoholism Control). (JC)