Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)

What is Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)?

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is an Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) designed to provide comprehensive treatment and support services to individuals who are diagnosed with a serious mental illness and need a higher level of care. ACT uses a multidisciplinary approach to provide clients support in their homes and the community to improve their quality of life and reduce hospitalizations and incarcerations.

Unlike traditional services that often rely on outpatient appointments, ACT provides continuous, personalized support directly in the community in a manner that promotes recovery and respects autonomy.

Who is ACT for?

Criteria for selection include psychiatric disorders which severely impair functioning in the community. Impairment is likely in multiple areas:

  • Inability to perform practical tasks required for basic functioning in the community for reasons related to their mental illness, being resistant, or avoiding involvement with traditional mental health services
  • Inability to attain and keep consistent employment
  • Inability to maintain a safe living situation

ACT is for consumers with the most challenging and persistent problems.

Core ACT Services:

  • Crisis Assessment and Intervention
  • Comprehensive Assessment
  • Illness Management and Recovery Skills
  • Individual Supportive Therapy
  • Substance-Abuse Treatment
  • Employment-Support Services
    Side-by-Side Assistance with Activities of Daily Living
  • Intervention with Support Networks (Family, Friends, Landlords, Neighbors, etc.)
  • Support Services (Medical Care, Housing, Benefits, Transportation, etc.)
  • Case Management
  • Medication Prescription, Administration, and Monitoring.

What makes ACT different than other services?

Personalized Care
The ACT team will work to help you achieve your goals. From helping you get basic necessities like food and housing to getting you back in school or the workforce, the ACT team will help you reach whatever goals you set for yourself. We will help you identify the most important goals and meet with you wherever you feel most comfortable. Services are flexible and tailored to your comfort level.
Team Approach
ACT teams comprise different specialists, including employment specialists, peer support specialists, nurses, psychiatrists or psychiatric nurse practitioners, substance abuse treatment specialists, and other mental health professionals. This creates the best environment for personalized care. Family, friends, and other essential people for your care can be as involved as you would like. The ACT team will work with your significant other, family, landlords, and others. But it is up to you how much they are involved, if at all, in your care.
ACT is a multidisciplinary team approach to the treatment and support of individuals diagnosed with a serious mental illness, who also require a higher level of care.
ACT Brochure

Does ACT work?

Over 50 years of research shows that people who receive services from ACT programs experience:

  • Fewer hospitalizations
  • Longer periods of stable housing
  • Greater satisfaction with services and supports

ACT promotes hope, recovery, and self-sufficiency. For more information, call 1-866-973-2241.