The Horizon House Comprehensive Services for Dually Diagnosed Homeless Individuals is an innovative case management and residential psychosocial rehabilitation program. Its purpose is to reduce/eliminate substance abuse, improve mental and physical health of homeless persons, and to provide them with the social and vocational skills necessary for independent living. Intensive case management, the care intervention, stresses establishing a relationship with the client and linking the client to all other entitlements and services. The program provides a range of services; outreach in streets and shelters; three residential alternatives (one large group home with 28 beds; 15 board and care beds; and 10 supported independent housing beds) which vary according to the needs and abilities of clients; and linkages with other services/day programs to access entitlements, mental health physical health care, drug and alcohol and other rehabilitation services, and consumer run support groups. During the proposed third year of funding, the Project will not only continue service delivery, but also enhance its linkages and cooperative working relationships with other providers. The purpose of these efforts is to increase cooperation among service providers in different systems to access services needed for the project clients and to inform providers of the characteristics and needs of the target population. A quasi-experimental research design will be utilized to assess the effectiveness of the Project. In this design there will be one nonequivalent comparison group (another residential rehabilitation program for dually diagnosed individuals in a substance abuse rehabilitation agency) and one nonequivalent control group comprised of individuals on the waiting lists of the two programs. A client tracking system that spans these three groups will provide the basis for data analysis and program evaluation.
