While there is not a current funding source for the provision of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) in Kentucky, many of our contractors provide some form of modified ACT. The information below is taken from the Assertive Community Treatment Association website. The model described is considered an evidence-based practice by the Department.

Assertive Community Treatment is a team treatment approach designed to provide comprehensive, community-based psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation, and support to persons with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia. The ACT model of care evolved out of the work of Arnold Marx, M.D., Leonard Stein, and Mary Ann Test, Ph.D., in the late 1960s. ACT has been widely implemented in the United States, Canada and England. The Department of Veterans Affairs has also implemented ACT across the United States.

A team of professionals whose backgrounds and training include social work, rehabilitation, counseling, nursing and psychiatry provide assertive community treatment services. Among the services ACT teams provide are case management, initial and ongoing assessments, psychiatric services, employment and housing assistance, family support and education, substance abuse services, and other services and supports that are critical to an individual's ability to live successfully in the community. ACT services are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

ACT has been extensively researched and evaluated and has proven clinical and cost effectiveness. The Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team has identified ACT as an effective and underutilized treatment modality for persons with serious mental illness.

Persons Served by ACT

Clients served by ACT are individuals with serious mental illness, with severe functional impairments, who have avoided or not responded well to traditional outpatient mental health care and psychiatric rehabilitation services. Persons served by ACT often have co-existing problems such as homelessness, substance abuse problems, or involvement with the judicial system.