Critical Time Intervention for Reentry From Prison for Persons With Mental Illness

Critical time intervention (CTI) is a nine-month, three-stage intervention that strategically develops individualized linkages in the community and seeks to enhance engagement with treatment and community supports through building problem-solving skills, motivational coaching, and advocacy with community agencies. It is an empirically supported practice shown to enhance continuity of care for people with mental illness after discharge from homeless shelters and psychiatric hospitals. This article describes CTI as a promising model to provide support for reentry from prison for people with mental illness. A conceptual model is presented for evaluating the impact of CTI on the transition from correctional settings to the community. The model is potentially useful for further development of mental health service-driven models of reentry process and outcome. Although CTI is a potentially useful model for reentry services for this population, challenges remain in adapting it to specific correctional facilities, justice systems, and community contexts.