After investigating deaths and other serious events involving mentally ill residents of Western Pennsylvania neighborhoods, state officials plan to take several steps to keep such people more involved in community mental health services.

The initiatives are a response to probes of eight "sentinel events" that have occurred since the state announced plans last August to close Mayview State Hospital by the end of this year, said David Jones, project manager for the closure process.

The events involved one person who started a fire in a group home, four former Mayview patients who died and three others who were arrested.

Six of the seven former Mayview patients were released before the closure was announced, Mr. Jones said yesterday, noting that over time, keeping some former patients connected to community services can be a challenge. Some may decide, for example, that they no longer need to take their medicine or have follow-up visits from treatment professionals.

In response, the state plans to consider greater use of outpatient commitments -- turning to the courts to order patients to receive certain community mental health services, Mr. Jones said.

Another proposal, he said, is to explore wider use of psychiatric advance directives.

The documents enable adults to appoint a representative to make mental health care decisions on their behalf and to make known their preferences about treatment options.

The directives take effect under circumstances specified in the documents or when a psychiatrist and another treatment professional determine that someone is incapable of making mental health care decisions.

Other steps call for training case managers in "motivational interviewing," a technique aimed at helping people move toward needed changes based on their goals and values. That training began earlier this week, Mr. Jones said.

Officials also want to make broader use of "assertive outreach" that works to keep people engaged in treatment. And they plan to develop an electronic system that makes critical information more readily available to case managers and "community treatment teams" -- mobile groups of mental health professionals that serve more vulnerable people living in the community.

Christine Michaels, executive director of the consumer group NAMI Southwestern Pennsylvania, said her agency approved of the planned changes.

"When individuals disengage from services in our system, sometimes it means they're well and recovering and at other times it means they're very ill," she said.

The proposals "are meant to help people engage without violating their rights," Ms. Michaels said.