Critical Time Intervention: an empirically supported model for preventing homelessness in high risk groups.

Critical Time Intervention (CTI) is designed to prevent recurrent homelessness among persons with severe mental illness by enhancing continuity of care during the transition from institutional to community living. After providing the background and rationale of CTI, we describe the elements of the model and summarize the status of existing research on its effectiveness. We then briefly illustrate how the CTI model has begun to be adapted and implemented by providing a case example of a homeless woman's transition from shelter to housing. Finally, we consider plans for the further adaptation, testing and dissemination of CTI in other populations and service delivery settings.

Screening offenders with histories of mental illness and violence for supportive housing.

This article describes a community mental health agency's process of screening supportive housing applicants with histories of violent felonies and serious mental illness. The agency adopted its corporate intranet as a tool so that geographically dispersed senior staff could participate in information gathering in order to ensure expert input in admissions decisions. This broad-based participation was designed to maintain community safety, while making the agency's residential resources available to people with mental illness and criminal histories. Considering the high recidivism rate of ex-offenders with mental illness and lack of clearly established best practices to serve them in the community, the authors believe that it is timely for housing providers to reevaluate how to better serve these individuals.