Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Program

The PORTALS Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program assists adult men and women with severe, chronic mental illness to regain control of their lives and become more productive members of the community. Many ACT members have a history of repeated admissions to psychiatric hospitals and history of locked placement in an IMD. Important goals for the program include: decreasing the functional impairments confronting each member; reducing recidivism rate of locked placement and significantly reducing the number of admissions to inpatient treatment facilities.

Multi-disciplinary PORTALS teams develop integrated treatment and rehabilitation plans for each ACT participant. ACT case managers and service coordinators support and guide members as they move forward on the road to recovery, wellness, community integration, meaningful work, and independent living.

 

Individual treatment plans, tailored to member needs, wishes, cultural and language requirements, can include a range of supportive elements, for example:  

• Life and social skills building;
• Intensive case management and psychiatric counseling;
• Crisis intervention, and
• Housing and employment guidance and support.

 

From 2003 through 2005, the PORTALS ACT program:

 

• Provided intensive mental health and case management services to 215 members living with serious and persistent mental illness;
• Helped 56 members make the transition from institutional settings into residential and community living programs; and
• Supported 22 members in active employment.

 

Over this time period, only nine members (less than five percent of those under PORTALS’ care) required treatment in inpatient mental healthcare facilities.