Browsing by keyword "transition"
Now showing items 1-3 of 3
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Harmonizing Databases? Evaluating Effectiveness of A Statewide Public Mental Health Reentry Program [English and Spanish versions]Describes a study which will establish a combined dataset “harmonizing” existing administrative databases to evaluate the effectiveness of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health’s Forensic Transition Team (FTT). The FTT is a case coordinator-based reentry program that serves persons with serious mental illness (SMI) transitioning from prisons. As needed, the FTT coordinators advocate for clients by attending discharge-planning meetings, providing linkages to providers, and tracking clients’ progress for three months post-release. A Spanish translation of this publication is available for download.
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Preliminary Outcomes from a Community Linkage Intervention for Individuals with Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Serious Mental IllnessObjective: Few interventions assist individuals with a mental illness and a co-occurring substance abuse disorder in the transition from hospitalization to outpatient treatment. This change in care is often abrupt, resulting in fragmented treatment that jeopardizes recovery. This article reports on the preliminary outcomes from a new eight-week linkage intervention entitled “Time-Limited Case Management (TLC)” that integrates intensive outreach, Dual Recovery Therapy (DRT), and peer support to facilitate outpatient treatment engagement following discharge from Acute Psychiatry. Method: This eight-week naturalistic feasibility study included 59 recently hospitalized subjects with a mental illness and substance abuse disorder who were offered the new service. The individuals who agreed to receive TLC (n = 26) formed the treatment group and those who refused (n = 33) made up the comparison group. Results: The TLC service was successfully implemented into the system and improved the transition from inpatient to outpatient care. The individuals who received the TLC intervention had a higher show rate at the Day Treatment Center intake appointment, attended more days of treatment at the Day Center, had greater pharmacy refill compliance, and were less likely to be lost to follow-up at eight weeks than the comparison group. Conclusion: TLC represents a promising new approach to maintaining continuity in care following psychiatric hospitalization that may be easily implemented in other systems. We are currently in the process of developing an implementation manual and doing a large randomized controlled trial to determine whether the intervention improves substance abuse and psychiatric outcomes in addition to facilitating treatment engagement.
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Treatment Retention Strategies in Transition Age YouthThis study tests Motivational Interviewing as a treatment retention intervention in transition age youth to determine whether sufficient evidence can be found to justify a full scale clinical trial.

