ABSTRACT
Legally involved, psychiatric patients often spend a significant amount of time institutionalized due to the severity of their charges as well as the many obstacles to discharge that they encounter within the New Jersey state hospital and judicial systems. While discharge planning technically begins from the day a patient enters the hospital system, forensic psychiatric patients typically spend significantly more time than the average civilly committed patient waiting for this to occur. In some cases, the wait can be decades. It is challenging to reconnect this population with the community and to assist them with successfully transitioning into a more independent lifestyle while remaining psychiatrically stable. One component of such a successful transition is participation in community-based groups that provide a bridge for patients to begin this process by providing modeling and in vivo learning experiences in order to teach and practice vital knowledge and skills that increase the likelihood of successful community reintegration. Benefits derived by group participants include their increased willingness to pursue discharge, improved self-confidence with community living, ability to sustain social connections, adherence to post-discharge treatment, and lack of criminal recidivism.
