Socialization as a rehabilitative process

This paper describes a social rehabilitation project for the mentally ill which utilizes the facilities of a community center to improve social skills. Discharged patients are purposefully moved through a four-phase series of progressively broader social experiences with the goal of having these expatients become autonomously involved in community center activities in the same manner as other community center members. The paper describes the joint effort of a voluntary psychiatric hospital and a community center in New York City in implementing this program.