Team members work closely together to help adults with severe mental illness live in their homes instead of institutions or on the streets. They provide a comprehensive array of services, such as helping individuals find and maintain safe and affordable housing, secure employment, learn about their mental health challenges and treatment choices, support harm reduction and substance use recovery, develop practical life skills, and provide medication oversight and support.
ACT teams also assist with the overall health care needs of the individuals they serve and aim to work closely with their families and other natural supports. To be most effective, ACT is recovery-oriented, strengths-based, and person-centered. Treatment is assertive in that the team is proactive and persistent in engaging individuals who would likely benefit from this level of support. To provide intensive, comprehensive, and flexible services, small and large teams serve no more than 50 and 120 individuals, respectively.
Since its original implementation in Madison, Wisconsin in the 1970s, a fundamental charge of ACT is to be the first-line and, when appropriate, sole provider of all services that individuals served require. Extensive research showing ACT’s positive effect on individual outcomes, particularly regarding reduced hospitalization, earned ACT the status as an evidence-based practice (EBP) in the 1990s. Although key ingredients of this model have remained the same, ACT has evolved to harness current evidence-based psychosocial treatments and practices.
Learn more about the history and evolution of ACT through these resources.