Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact on recovery and personal goal attainment of a transition intervention service for return to the community following exit from an alternative to psychiatric inpatient admission – a residential recovery house. The services seek to facilitate community reintegration, promote recovery and prevent future mental health crisis. The service was funded by the Stone Family Foundation. Design/methodology/approach – This evaluation employed a within groups design: a single case evaluation follow-up. Analysis of Recovery Star and personal goal achievement data collected at service entry and exit points during routine practice (n=181), at four sites in England. The adults had mental illness diagnoses including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder, and anxiety disorder. Findings – There was a significant increase in overall Recovery Star scores with a large effect size, and significant increases in eight of the ten Recovery Star life domains. There were significant increases in the goal scores linked to “Managing mental health”, “Self-care” and “Living skills”. Practical implications – A transitional intervention service provided by the third sector for return to community following mental health crisis may contribute to recovery and personal goal achievement. A randomised control trial of this transition intervention service is recommended. Originality/value – This is first outcome evaluation of an alternative to psychiatric inpatient admission transition intervention service and findings indicate the potential positive effect of having this service incorporated into the design of alternative to admission provision.