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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Judith Samuels, PhD, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Center for the Study of Issues in Public Mental Health, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962, (914) 398-6579, samuels@nki.rfmh.org
The Family Critical Time Intervention program is being implemented as part of the Homeless Families Research Study in Westchester County, NY. One of eight sites in the CMHS/CSAT Homeless Families initiative, this study targets single-parent homeless families in the Westchester County shelter system, whose mothers have all been assessed as having a mental health and/or substance abuse problem. The study’s major aim is to test the efficacy of the Family Critical Time Intervention model (FCTI) in a randomized clinical trial involving treatment as usual. FCTI is a modified version of the Critical Time Intervention (CTI), that couples rapid placement in transitional housing with intensive short-term case management for homeless families.
This presentation will describe a case study of adopting and adapting an evidence-based mental health practice for use with homeless families that was originally developed for single adults. The CTI model, operational since the 1990s, was developed in NY City to increase housing stability for persons with severe mental illness and long-term histories of homelessness, once they were placed in housing. The time-limited intervention (9-months) focuses on providing intensive team-based case management to assist in the transition into housing. The central tenet of CTI is continuity of care.
The FCTI is being tested to challenge a widespread assumption that homeless mothers with children, especially those beset with multiple problems, require the relative confinement and extended stay of congregate shelter living in order to progress to a stage of sufficient “housing readiness” before entering housing.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to
Keywords: Homelessness,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.