Mental health supported accommodation services- what works and what more do we need to know?

This presentation will provide an introduction for the subsequent presentations in this symposium. I will give an overview of the different types of mental health supported accommodation that have been developed internationally since the deinstitutionalisation era of the 1990s, and the evidence for their effectiveness. I will highlight findings from the literature that provide evidence for specific approaches or interventions in mental health supported accommodation that are associated with better client outcomes and that therefore inform what best practice in these service should encompass. I will also also summarise the limitations of the studies to date, including the importance of taking account of the socioeconomic, political and cultural context of the varied study settings. Finally, I will provide a brief summary of the areas where further research is needed to inform practice and service development in this field.