RIST accepts persons served who are currently on Conditional Extension Pending Placement (CEPP) status at state psychiatric hospitals, along with those on CEPP status at county psychiatric hospitals. Additionally we accept referrals in the community who require additional supportive services and skill building in order to remain in the community. Included in those community referrals are local Short Term Care Facility (STCF) units, community mental health providers, and social service agencies.

The Residential Intensive Support Team (RIST) is an intensive residential support program designed to address the needs of individuals who may require intensive but varying degrees of residential support in the transition from hospital to community living. Bridgeway's RIST programs are comprehensive, flexible, mobile teams skilled in state of the art interventions that provides person centered recovery and wellness services to people re-entering the community from a psychiatric hospital.

Eligibility:

• Presence of a major DSM Axis I psychiatric illness
• Need for intensive support in order to maintain independent living

Services Include:

• Assistance in locating permanent housing utilizing state subsidized rental assistance vouchers.
• Personal assistance approach with emphasis on education and development of living skills, including apartment management, nutrition, budgeting, personal hygiene, housekeeping, and medication management.
• Intensive outreach to engage service recipients into mental health, substance abuse, and medical services.
• Structured, on-going coordination with other service providers.
• 24 hours per day/7 days per week availability of staff when needed and 24 hour on-call rapid response.
• Assistance in developing peer and community social supports.
• Partnership with family/significant others.
• Career counseling, job seeking skills training and ongoing support to workers and students.