Assisted Outpatient Treatment

Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) offers eligible individuals with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) a comprehensive range of outpatient behavioral health services, all under the supervision of a court with mental health jurisdiction.

In 2017, the General Assembly passed Kentucky's first Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) statute. Tim's Law, named for Tim Morton, a Lexington man with schizophrenia who was unable to acknowledge his own diagnosis and illness. During his lifetime, he was committed to inpatient treatment dozens of times, resisted attempts at outpatient treatment, and ultimately died in 2014 at age 56 from neglected health problems. Thanks to the efforts of his parents, advocacy groups, mental health agencies, and many others, Kentucky took a significant step toward stopping "the revolving door of jails, hospitals and homelessness with little benefit for such individuals" (Courier-Journal, 6/24/2016)

In July 2020, the KY Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHDID) received a federal SAMHSA grant to fund a pilot project for Kentucky's 192 Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) cases. The project coordinated the efforts of Community Mental Health Centers and state psychiatric hospitals in submitting Tim's Law petitions and delivering community-based treatment to individuals under court order. The project has enabled AOT programs to operate in the areas served by Central State Hospital (CSH) and Western State Hospital (WSH).

The Pilot Project was expanded to the Eastern State Hospital (ESH) and Appalachian Regional Hospital (ARH) areas in FY2023 and FY2024 with state general funds appropriated to DBHDID by the Kentucky General Assembly. DBHDID received $2.5 million in state general funds to continue AOT expansion efforts statewide for FY2025 and $3 million for FY2026.

With the addition of state general funds, the AOT program now has the resources to assist individuals court-ordered to AOT from any petitioner source, including concerned family and community members, local behavioral health providers, physicians, law enforcement, and psychiatric hospitals. Key components of the AOT program include court involvement, comprehensive treatment, case management, and family/community support.

The University of Kentucky's College of Social Work continues to work with DBHDID on evaluation efforts as part of a more extensive national review of AOT effectiveness.