Developing community support for homeless people with mental illness in transition.

To facilitate effective transitional services and enhance continuity of care among people with mental illness, this grounded theory study explored the practice of developing community support in critical time intervention (CTI), a time-limited, shortterm psychosocial rehabilitation program designed to facilitate the critical transition from institutional to community settings. Semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with twelve CTI workers were analyzed. Results show that CTI workers self-identified as an "extra support" to develop community ties that will help clients sustain stable housing. Their practice of community support development was represented by a transient triangular relationship model, involving three dyadic relationships (worker-client, worker-primary support, primary support-client) as the building blocks and specific strategies to facilitate the relational transition. Findings also detailed identification of community supports, collaboration and boundary issues in working with primary supports, and engagement with clients in this transitional process. Recommendations were drawn from findings to enhance broad discharge and transitional services.