Consumer experience with payeeship provided by a community mental health center.

We surveyed 28 participants in a program in which the clinical therapist and money manager were different staff members. Patients reported strong therapeutic alliances with both the money manager and treating therapist as assessed by the Working Alliance Inventory. Alliance scores for the two providers were highly correlated (p = .68) and not significantly different from each other. Most patients endorsed overall satisfaction with the money management service, and report program-related benefits in housing, achieving abstinence, avoiding financial predators and budgeting arrangements. A significant minority endorsed some feeling of coercion, and coercion was associated with a weaker therapeutic alliance.