ABSTRACT

The creation of the community-lodge society began when fifteen chronic mental patients were organized as a task group in the mental hospital. This task group participated in a small-group treatment program which has been described elsewhere (Fairweather, 1964). The group’s task within the hospital program was to make decisions about solving its members’ problems. There was one feature, however, that differentiated this particular group from the other four task groups on the ward—the group spent its work time discussing possible solutions to problems that its members would have to face upon their arrival in the community. This procedure was designed as advanced training for a unique situation that the task group had never faced before—leaving the hospital as a unit. Meeting together for a time prior to moving into the community also afforded the members an opportunity to develop a limited social organization, especially since its members knew definitely they would leave the hospital together for an adventure into the community which could dramatically affect their lives.