ABSTRACT
The traditional modality for the relationship between volunteer and patient in the Case Aide Program had been individual one-to-one meetings. While this mode of contact had been markedly successful in past years, it did present certain drawbacks. The relationship, because of the frequency and the duration of the contact, was necessarily intense. Therefore, patients who did well in the program had to have the ego strength to cope with such a relationship. More withdrawn schizophrenic patients, paranoid personalities, and extremely institutionalized patients were unable to utilize the service; they were “included out” by the nature of the service offered. The termination of this relationship was often quite traumatic for both the patient and the volunteer. Dehospitalization of the chronic patient, as well as briefer stays for the newly admitted patients, were becoming more common goals than in the past.
