The mothers' project for homeless mothers with mental illnesses and their children: a pilot study.

Mothers with mental illnesses, who are homeless, as well as their children, are highly vulnerable and need specialized services. This retrospective study describes the experience of the Thresholds Mothers' Project in serving 24 homeless mothers. Benchmarks suggest that the mothers and their children benefited from the program.

Jail linkage assertive community treatment services for individuals with mental illnesses.

Persons with mental illnesses who are released from jail or prison are at high risk of psychiatric decompensation and re-arrest. This paper describes an ACT jail linkage program for this population that won an American Psychiatric Association Gold Award (2001). Based on interviews with its first 24 participants, we illustrate how they experience factors that contribute to recidivism and decompensation.

Response to vocational rehabilitation during treatment with first- or second-generation antipsychotics.

Objective: Second-generation antipsychotics may enhance the rehabilitation of individuals with schizophrenia. The authors hypothesized that clients receiving second-generation antipsychotics would use vocational rehabilitation services more effectively and would have better employment outcomes than those receiving first-generation antipsychotics.

Methods: Ninety unemployed clients with schizophrenia and related disorders who were beginning a vocational rehabilitation program were followed for nine months.

Gaining insight: who benefits from residential, integrated treatment for people with dual diagnoses?

This retrospective study examines 18-month outcomes for 38 participants in an urban, residential integrated treatment (IT) program, and whether residents experienced different treatment benefits. Informed by an ACT team approach, the program emphasized harm reduction and motivational interventions. The design is naturalistic, and outcomes are self-comparisons over time reported in the aggregate.

Jobs for people with the most severe psychiatric disorders: Thresholds Bridge North pilot.

This study presents findings from a 21-month study situated at a large PSR agency (Thresholds). Comparisons of vocational outcomes are reported for two groups of people who are members of an Assertive Community Treatment [ACT] program. A comparison group (n = 144) received routine ACT services.

Comparison between the effects of atypical and traditional antipsychotics on work status for clients in a psychiatric rehabilitation program.

Background: Although many studies have compared the impact of atypical antipsychotics with that of traditional antipsychotics on psychiatric symptoms, few have compared the impact on work status, especially in the context of best-practices psychiatric rehabilitation.

Method: A cross-sectional design examined symptom and employment status for 82 clients with DSM-IV schizophrenia-spectrum disorders who had attended a psychiatric rehabilitation program for a mean of 5 years. Using chart review and client interviews, we examined the relationship between type of antipsychotic prescribed and symptom and work status in 59 clients prescribed an atypical antipsychotic (olanzapine or risperidone) for a mean of 20 months and 23 clients prescribed a traditional antipsychotic for a mean of 75 months.