title: Best practices: Best practices for improving engagement of clients in clinic care.
abstract: Mental health clinicians and program administrators must implement effective strategies for engaging and retaining clients in care. At a recent series of forums open to providers from clinics in New York City that was sponsored by the city and state public mental health authorities, high-performing providers described their client engagement strategies. In this column the effective strategies reported are summarized in four areas: the first session, staff training and expertise, productivity measures, and engaging families and support persons. The approaches should be of use to administrators to improve programs' ability to engage and retain clients in community-based clinic care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, and New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Dr., Unit 14, New York, NY 10032, USA. tes2001@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jeannette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burgos
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dexter
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Norcott
authors.forename: Stella V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shuman
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.forename: Myla E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Ilana R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Nossel
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Essock
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003415:Crime / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009518:New York; D009519:New York City; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology*; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D014754:Violence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology