Psychiatric rehabilitation by its very nature is multidisciplinary because
of the many competencies required for its implementation. In promoting opti
mal levels of recovery from schizophrenia and other disabling mental disord
ers, teams must combine the expert contributions of professionals and parap
rofessionals who can individualize a comprehensive array of evidence-based
services with competency, consistency, continuity, coordination, collaborat
ion, and fidelity. The authors describe the properties and functions of the
multidisciplinary team and key attributes of effective teams. The importan
ce of teams' involving clients, their relatives, and other supporters in se
tting personally relevant life goals is emphasized. The authors provide exa
mples of the challenges posed by the need to individualize services and of
the ways in which barriers to communication and coordination can be overcom
e. The roles of the various team members are described, including leadershi
p roles and the unique role of the psychiatrist, in the context of newly em
erging, evidence-based treatments for psychiatric rehabilitation.