Manuela Silva, psychiatrist and researcher at the Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health, won the 2nd edition of the FLAD Science Award Mental Health of the Luso-American Development Foundation. The research project, “Effectiveness of the Critical Time Intervention-Task Shifting (CTI- TS) model for persons with serious mental illness discharged from inpatient psychiatric treatment facilities in Portugal”, is the winner of €300.000, the highest award in the area of Mental Health in Portugal.
The project will conduct a randomized, controlled trial in three psychiatric services in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area to evaluate the effectiveness, feasibility and implementation of the CTI-TS model, a recovery-oriented based model including peer support workers, for people with severe mental illness in the post-hospitalization period.
The participants allocated to the intervention group will receive the support of a pair of paid workers over a 9-month period to identify barriers to their recovery and to develop a sustainable plan to engage in and use community supports and resources during and after CTI-TS.
This project was conceived to enhance continuity of care in the period following hospital discharge, a high risk period of of treatment dropout, with the broader objective of strengthening community care and promoting recovery and human rights.
