Assertive Community Treatment
Providing Mental Health Rehabilitation for Adults and Children
What is ACT?
Assertive Community Treatment, or ACT, is a way of delivering a full range of services to people who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. ACT’s goal is to give clients adequate community care and to help them have a life that isn’t dominated by their diagnosis.
How does ACT help clients?
With ACT, clients get help taking care of their basic needs—taking medications, getting up, and getting through the day. ACT teams work closely with clients to see which medications work best for them. They help clients find housing, apply for government services, go back to school, or get a job.
How does ACT work?
- A team approach: Psychiatrists, TBRI Practicioner, nurses, mental health professionals, employment specialists, and substance-abuse specialists join together on ACT teams to give clients ongoing, individualized care.
- Services are provided where they are needed: Clients receive ACT services in their homes, at work, at school and in other settings in the community where problems occur or where support is needed.
- Personalized care: ACT teams work with relatively small numbers of people so the team can provide tailored, specialized care.
- Time-unlimited support: ACT teams give clients whatever services and supports they need for as long as they need them.
- Flexible care: ACT teams arrange their schedules around the needs of clients.
- Comprehensive care: ACT teams provide an array of services to help meet client needs.
- Services provided when they are needed: ACT services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Someone is always available to handle emergencies.
With ACT, clients benefit most because they are hospitalized less often and have more stable housing.