The California Department of Mental Health will implement and evaluate a research-driven demonstration project to test the hypothesis that seriously mentally disabled clients receiving community support services from Consumer Support Services Coordinator's (CSSC's) (case managers) will show more stability in the community than clients receiving only traditional case management services. Two diverse county sites have been selected for the research demonstration: Sacramento County and Contra Costa County. Both counties will recruit, intensively train, develop and employ CSSC'S. There will be a three-month training period before four consumers, at each site, are placed in the CSSC positions. The CSSC's will receive """"""""follow-along"""""""" supported employment services from project job coaches. All CSSC subjects will be assessed on a standard series of outcome measures at admission to the study, after three months, and at six month intervals throughout the three year funding period. A pretest-post-test control group design will be used for the case management client portion of the study. Clients will be randomly assigned to either a case manager/CSSC pair or a traditional case manager. Outcome data will include frequency and duration of hospitalizations over the past two years; activity level including social involvement and employment history; housing and placement history; financial and benefit history; client satisfaction with mental health and other services; Ohio version the the Uniform Client Data Instrument's (UCDI) Basic Living Skills, Social Activity, and Behavioral Problems Scales; and the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R).
