Preparing to Exit

Core Element Overview

Preparing to Exit from IHT begins with the family vision for a preferred future and flows through all stages of the intervention. With regular checks on progress, the IHT team and family move together toward the family vision. Specific actions, as the family approaches the planned discharge date, include validating youth and family progress, planning for setbacks and sustainability, and learning about family member experience of the service. Unplanned exits, or a severe increase in youth needs, require efforts to ease difficult transitions, re-engage family members, and learn what we can in order to prevent abrupt discharges in the future.

Contribution to the Outcome

Planning for exit from the point of intake emphasizes the hope that changes will endure over time with less professional intervention. Planning attends proactively to safety, community connections, changes in life circumstances, and other variables that may affect the end of treatment and after-care planning. Careful collaboration is essential to guide when and how to complete an episode of care. Ending treatment may be cause for celebration of a family’s strength in improving their situation. Unplanned exits are an opportunity to learn about how practitioners, collaborating partners, and the system of care can better support positive outcomes.