Despite the high number of individuals living with severe mental illness and the evidence to support effective
interventions, only a small percentage of occupational therapy practitioners work in community mental health
settings. To address the need for more occupational therapists in this area of practice, schools must provide
educational experiences that facilitate interactions with individuals experiencing severe mental illness to
increase students’ competence with this population. The Washington University Program in Occupational
Therapy fosters students’ clinical reasoning skills throughout a two semester case-based learning course. For
the community mental health module at the end of the 2nd semester, the program partnered with two local
community agencies to provide an opportunity for students to work with clients experiencing severe mental
illness. Students administered assessments, planned and implemented interventions, and completed
documentation. Following the experience, students reported increased ability to facilitate interventions and
adapt to client needs and clients reported an increase in independent living skills. This paper will describe the
development of the course module, collaboration between the academic institution and community based
agencies, and s