Citation

Campanelli PC, Cleek EN, Gold PB, Lieberman HJ, Nakagawa A, Skoraszewski M. J. Psychiatr. Pract. 2005; 11(5): 279-288.

Affiliation

CAMPANELLI, CLEEK, LIEBERMAN, NAKAGAWA, and SKORASZEWSKI: Institute for Community Living, Inc., New York; GOLD: Medical University of South Carolina.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16184069

Abstract

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.