Service Components of Programs of Assertive Community Treatment For

Service Components of Programs of Assertive Community Treatment For Adults A. A Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) is a person-centered, recovery- oriented mental health service delivery model for facilitating community living, psychological rehabilitation, and recovery for people who have the most severe and persistent mental illnesses, have severe symptoms and impairments, and have not benefited from traditional outpatient services. B. The important characteristics of PACT are: 1. Programs of Assertive Community Treatment serve people who may have gone without appropriate services. Consequently, the group is often overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness and in jails and prisons and has been unfairly thought to resist or avoid involvement in treatment. 2. Programs of Assertive Community Treatment Services are delivered by a group of multidisciplinary mental health personnel who work as a team and provide the majority of the treatment, rehabilitation, and support services people need to achieve their goals. Many, if not all, employees share responsibility for addressing the needs of all people requiring frequent contact. 3. Programs of Assertive Community Treatment Services are individually tailored to each person and address the preferences and identified goals of each person. The approach with each person emphasizes relationship building and active involvement in assisting people with severe and persistent mental illness to make improvements in functioning, to manage symptoms better, to achieve individual goals, and to maintain optimism. 4. The PACT Team is mobile and delivers services in community locations to enable each person to find and live in their own residence and, find and maintain work in community jobs rather than expecting the person to come to the service. 5. PACT Services are delivered in an ongoing, rather than time-limited, framework to aid the process of recovery and ensure continuity of care. Severe and persistent mental illnesses are episodic disorders, and many people benefit from the availability of a longer-term treatment approach and continuity of care. This allows people the opportunity to decompensate, consolidate gains, sometimes regress, and then take the next steps forward until they achieve recovery. 6. The PACT Team must have a system for regular review of the service that is designed to evaluate the appropriateness of admissions to the program, treatment or service plans, discharge practices, and other factors that may contribute to the effective use of the service’s resources.