The purpose and approach of community mental health in the urban ghetto is discussed. Mental health service is viewed as an alien institution by the deprived citizen and institutions of the Kennedy era were naive the approaches from 1963 on were only new in ideals but not practice. Each center is meant to offer its community consultation and education, however, its personnel is untrained and citizenry resistance monumental. Furthermore, the cause of mental illness in the ghetto, its prevention and treatment have not been clearly identified. Most specialists at the centers do not know what their out-center neighborhood task is. The staff usually consists of young graduates in psychology assisted by nurses, aids and inexperienced workers. Thus group therapy, the single most important tool, can only be crudely adopted if at all. The author also discusses other side effects of untrained personnel. He notes that the suave treatment and approach used for the middle class is applied to the poor. Apathy and militancy of the community force the worker to deviate from his professionalism thus approaches which bring black and white together advocated. The author suggests that the centers be staffed by members of the neighborhood. (Author)