Building productive roles: occupational therapy in a homeless shelter

SUMMARY Project Employ is a grant-funded program providing occupational therapy services to persons who are homeless. At Project Employ productive role involvement is the primary program outcome. Choices for productive role involvement are keyed by the person's interests and preferences, assessment is an ongoing process, prevocational training and rapid job placement are both available, and support and work-place interventions, while not unlimited, can continue for up to two years. This article describes the process of assessing factors that act as supports or barriers to productive role functioning and shares intervention methods that support role competence and adaptation in this vulnerable population.