Publicly funded psychiatric inpatient institutions focus increasingly on stabilization and relapse prevention, readying patients for rapid community reentry. Growing emphasis on consumer satisfaction and professionals' accountability for efficient outcomes has coincided with increasing cost concerns. Since staffing limitations mandate innovative use of group methods, psychotherapists must develop engaging, instructive programs that reach heterogeneous groups of patients and yield measurable outcomes. Maintaining clients' focus on community reentry by using the group therapy setting to showcase their off-unit successes was found to increase group attendance, participation, and reports of perceived efficacy among group members. Several strategies for integrating such experiences within a cost-effective group context are presented. (Author)