An educational model for teaching living skills to long-term patients.

Establishing rehabilitation programs for long-term mental patients outside mental health settings can save mental health funds and further the patients' integration into the community, the author declares. He describes an approach that uses an educational model to teach patients the basic skills of everyday living. As "students," they enroll in a course taught by a credentialed teacher and sponsored by the adult education department of the local high school. Mental health professionals are used only for consultation, and the cost to the local mental health program is minimal. A key element in the course is having the students participate in planning the curriculum.