Opening Doors to Recovery: Recidivism and Recovery Among Persons With Serious Mental Illnesses and Repeated Hospitalizations

Objective: Repeated hospitalizations and arrests or incarcerations diminish the ability of individuals with serious mental illnesses to pursue recovery. Community mental health systems need new models to address recidivism as well as service fragmentation, lack of engagement by local stakeholders, and poor communication between mental health providers and the police. This study examined the initial effects on institutional recidivism and measures of recovery among persons enrolled in Opening Doors to Recovery, an intensive, team-based community support program for persons with mental illness and a history of inpatient psychiatric recidivism. A randomized controlled trial of the model is underway. Methods: The number of hospitalizations, days hospitalized, and arrests (all from state administrative sources) in the year before enrollment and during the first 12 months of enrollment in the program were compared. Longitudinal trajectories of recovery-using three self-report and five clinician-rated measures-were examined. Analyses accounted for baseline symptom severity and intensity of involvement in the program. Results: One hundred participants were enrolled, and 72 were included in the analyses. Hospitalizations decreased, from 1.9+/-1.6 to .6+/-.9 (p<.001), as did hospital days, from 27.6+/-36.4 to 14.9+/-41.3 (p<.001), although number of arrests (which are rare events) did not. Significant linear trends were observed for recovery measures, and trajectories of improvement were apparent across the entire follow-up period. Conclusions: Opening Doors to Recovery holds promise as a new service approach for reducing hospital recidivism and promoting recovery in community mental health systems and is deserving of further controlled testing.