This research examined two premises of supported housing: (a) that consumer choice/control over housing and support and the quality of housing are important contributors to the subjective quality of life and adaptation to community living of people with mental illness, and (b) that apartments provide mental health consumers with more choice/control over housing and support than group living arrangements. To test these two hypotheses, we collected data from participants with mental illness housed through a government initiative in Ontario, Canada. A total of 130 participants completed a baseline interview, and 91 of those participants also completed a follow-up interview 9-months later. Support was found for both hypotheses. The results were discussed in terms of the paradigm of supported housing, previous research, and implications for housing policy and program development in the community mental health sector.

For 16 years, the Hamilton Family Health Team Mental Health Program has successfully integrated mental health counselors, addiction specialists, child mental health professionals, and psychiatrists into 81 offices of 150 family physicians in Hamilton, Ontario. Maximising the potential of a "shared care" model requires changes within the primary care setting, to support the addition of mental health and addiction professionals, active involvement of primary care staff in managing mental health problems of patients, and collaborative practice. This coordinated effort allow mental health treatment through onsite support from a mental health team and supplants the need to refer most patients to the mental health setting. This article reviews the evolution of the program and the changes made by practices with key lessons learnt.

These findings provide some preliminary support for an association between recovery-oriented service delivery for persons with severe mental illnesses and better outcomes. In line with the current practice commentary, this association would suggest the importance of evaluating and cultivating recovery-oriented values and practices in ACT contexts. This is a particularly salient point given that ACT standards minimally address key domains of recovery-oriented service provision. Further study is required, however, to determine if these findings apply to the implementation of ACT in other jurisdictions or generalize to other community support programs.

There has been increasing commentary about the degree to which Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams provide recovery-oriented services, often centered around the question of the use of coercion. The present study was designed to contribute to this discussion through an examination of recovery-oriented service provision and ACT fidelity among 67 teams in the province of Ontario, Canada. The findings indicated a moderate to high degree of recovery orientation in service provision, with no significant relationship between ACT fidelity and consumer and family/key support ratings of recovery orientation. A significant relationship was found, however, between the 'nature of services' domain of the Dartmouth Assertive Community Treatment Scale (DACTS) and ratings of recovery orientation provided by staff and ACT coordinators. These findings extend the existing dialogue regarding the evaluation of ACT intervention process factors and indicate that current measures of fidelity may not be adequately addressing dimensions of recovery-oriented service provision.