Many people with severe mental illness are troubled more by impairments in functioning than by the symptoms themselves. The aim of psychiatric rehabilitation is to help individuals increase independence in their ability to manage various areas of their lives, whether maintaining their household, developing meaningful relationships, managing finances, or learning how to navigate their community. This is done by assessing functioning challenges across different domains, including careful assessment of how psychiatric symptoms and cognitive impairments impact daily functioning, and developing specific interventions to address these challenges so that the person can better function in that specific area.
Careful and systematic coaching, modeling, and teaching are core interventions within psychiatric rehabilitation. Because psychiatric rehabilitation is such a fundamental practice within Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), all team members need to be skilled in this area. However, having designated psychiatric rehabilitation specialists could elevate practice altogether. Psychiatric rehabilitation specialists may specialize in money management skill development (e.g., leading a time-limited budgeting group), transportation training, and social skills development (e.g., learning how to read social cues and practice responses).
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