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 and who have needs that have not been well met by more traditional approaches. With ACT, a relatively small group of people receive services and supports from a team of mental health professionals. ACT’s goal is to give persons served adequate community care and to help them have a life that isn’t dominated by their mental illness.
The ACT Team consists of psychiatrists, nurses, mental health professionals, employment specialists, substance use specialists and peer supports who join together to give a small number of people ongoing, individualized care for as long as they need it.
Persons served receive ACT services in their homes, where they work, and in other settings in the community where problems and stresses arise and where they need support and skills.
ACT provides assistance with activities of daily living, housing, family life, employment, benefits, managing finances, health care, medications, co-occurring disorders integrated treatment (substance use), and counseling.