Treatment for the Dually Diagnosed Homeless

This paper describes a research demonstration project currently underway in Los Angeles county. The study is a randomized evaluation of treatment strategies for homeless persons with serious mental and substance use disorders. This paper describes the study population, the treatment philosophy underlying the programs being studied, the design of the two treament programs, and implementation experiences occurring during the fust year of project operations. The existing residential program staff was able to adapt to treating a different client population. Considerable challenges were encourkred in implementing the new nonresidential program. Implementation of the randomized design and longitudinal follow-up have been successful.