ACT (Assertive Community Treatment)
CONTACT INFORMATION
ACT Teams 1 & 3
61 Staples Street
Radford, VA 24141
P: 540-961-8446 – Team 1
P: 540-961-8449 – Team 3
ACT Team 4
210 Broad Street
Dublin, VA 24084
P: 540-961-8417
What is ACT?
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is a service delivery model that provides comprehensive, locally based person-centered treatment to individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. ACT services are based on an individual’s needs, are flexible to include adjusting level of care as needs change and offered outside of the clinic/program setting for individuals who are best served in the community and are frequent receiving inpatient care. ACT is offered by a multidisciplinary team that provides services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year. The team is trained in areas of psychiatry, social work, counseling, nursing, substance use disorders, vocational rehabilitation, housing needs, and peer support.
The goal of ACT
ACT strives to lessen or eliminate the debilitating symptoms of mental illness each individual experiences and to minimize or prevent recurrent acute episodes of the illness, to meet basic needs and enhance quality of life, to improve functioning in adult social and employment roles, and to enhance an individual’s ability to live independently in his or her own community.
What are the key features of ACT?
Treatment:
- psychopharmacologic treatment
- assessment and treatment planning
- crisis assessment and treatment/intervention
- integrated dual disorders treatment for co-occurring substance use/mental illness
- behaviorally oriented skill teaching (supportive and cognitive-behavioral therapy), including structuring time and handling activities of daily living
- other empirically supported therapeutic interventions and therapies.
- support for resuming education and/or gainful employment skills
- development/restoration in social, health and wellness, symptom management, psychiatric rehab, finances
- health literacy counseling/psychiatric nursing
- direct support to help clients obtain legal and advocacy services, financial support, supported housing, money-management services, and community integration/living needs
- housing access and support
- other services identified in individual’s treatment plan
Who benefits from the ACT model?
The ACT model is indicated for adults who have a severe and persistent mental illness causing symptoms and impairments that produce distress and major disability in adult functioning (e.g., employment, self-care, and social and interpersonal relationships). ACT participants are individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders (e.g., schizoaffective disorder), and bipolar I disorder.