Responding to Unique Needs

The Challenge

Supported housing has unique staff development needs compared to traditional outpatient or residential counseling settings. Having been trained in Illness Management Recovery (IMR) by the CPT, a large nonprofit-supported housing organization in New York recognized that IMR could work better for their clients if some adjustments were made.

The Process

Consulting with the organization’s clinical medical leaders, CPT identified five IMR modules that best supported the identified mental health and substance use needs of the agency’s supported-housing residents. Our team adapted IMR to become “Targeted IMR” (T-IMR) and similarly modified the training to focus on specific modules while maintaining the principles and spirit of IMR. CPT piloted Targeted IMR and collected client data to determine its efficacy.

The Result

Pilot data suggests that T-IMR is highly effective in helping supported housing residents reduce their symptoms and make progress toward their goals. The Clinical Supervisor reports, “Now that we have adapted the intervention to fit our program and those quick 10- to 15-minute meetings we have with our residents, we find that many are actually engaging in things like skills practice, relaxation techniques, and even goal setting. They really like the materials we are using from the manual, and they are able to see their own progress.”