Benefits Management for People With Psychiatric Disabilities

Inclusion Criteria: * Has received treatment for a psychiatric disorder within 60 days of enrollment * Receives SSI or SSDI payments totaling at least $600 per month * Has an identified outpatient clinician * Either i) Homeless within the past 3 months. Homeless is defined as having spent at least seven days in a shelter, outdoors (e.g. in a park, in a car), in a public or abandoned building (e.g. train station), or temporarily (less than a continuous month) housed by family or friends OR ii) Hospitalized within the past 3 months Justification for Inclusion Criteria: Homelessness and hospitalization are common reasons for payee assignment (Conrad, Matters et al. 1998). In a prior study, we found that a high proportion of hospitalized inpatients meet criteria for needing a payee (Rosen, Rosenheck et al. 2002a). There is no point enrolling clinically stable outpatients in this study because they are unlikely to need payees. Exclusion Criteria: * Already has a conservator or representative payee * An application to assign a payee or conservator has been initiated * Unable to speak and understand English