Discipline Meetings Join the two spring and fall discipline-specific meetings to discuss your practice and how to support the provision of ACT services. National_ACT_Virtual_Program_Discipline_Specific_Meetings_20c82f46db Register and details here: 2023 National ACT Virtual Learning – Discipline Specific Meetings • RSVPify Team Wide Training Join us for the Spring Learning Series Register and details here: Team Virtual Trainings Spring_National_ACT_Virtual_Learning_Program_2023_d0547a62f0 Virtual_Learning_Program_Mar_31_2023_4d187f46e1   Conference (in person) Vancouver, August 14-16, 2023 ACTT & FACTT staff, clients/service users, families, community partners, students and researchers are invited! In facing the many challenges to the practice of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), this conference, with keynote lectures from several Canadian and International speakers, will explore evidence-based interventions to support individuals living with severe mental health and substance use challenges, including those who have frequent interactions with the justice system. We will evaluate how the traditional ACT model has evolved and adapted to meet community needs by diversifying the implementation of ACT and Flexible ACT teams. International View: Dr. Niels Mulder: Chairman of European Assertive Outreach Foundation, ACT psychiatrist and researcher in assertive outreach, emergency psychiatry Dr. Mark Munetz: Psychiatrist, implemented Crisis Intervention Teams, a community-based collaboration between law enforcement and mental health providers Luis Lopez: Director at the Centre for Practice Innovations, specializing in implementation and application of evidence-based best practices Dr. Helle Thorning: Clinical social worker and researcher in psycheducational models of care Guest Speakers: Dr. Vikki Reynolds: Registered Clinical Counselor, social justice activist with community work and therapy Victoria Maxwell: Theatrical Keynote Mental Health Speaker Alison Dunning: National Manager for Peer Support Canada And many more… To Learn more, & registration info: https://act-bc.ca/cms-media/IA…-05-08T15:50:18.362Z https://act-bc.ca/                        https://ontarioactassociation.com/ Contact: BC.ACT.AP@vch.ca ______________________________________________________________        

New York is first state in nation to use program to assist at-risk youth who have not responded well to traditional treatment ...OMH Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said, "We are very proud at OMH to be the first state mental health agency in the nation to modify the successful adult ACT team model and use it to serve young people and their families. The pioneering teams we are funding and developing will provide services to at-risk young people when and where they need it most, and help them stay in school and develop the skills they can use to lead successful and independent lives." ... See the article here: $21 million in funding for nation's first assertive community treatment teams dedicated to children & their families (wnypapers.com)  

Dear Colleagues, We have over 40 years of worldwide ACT research and clinical experience. We know what works and what matters: Proper funding matters Model fidelity matters Staff – client ratios matter Service saturation matters PROPER FUNDING Funding for Ontario ACT teams varies dramatically ($800,000 – $1,700,000). Quebec teams get 1.3 million each. British Columbia teams get $1.7 million each. Unfortunately, some hospitals and agencies redirect part of their ACT funding to other service areas within the organization. You simply can’t follow the provincial operational standards and you can’t provide good clinical service if you are underfunded. Each of the 21 community agency sponsored ACT teams in Ontario should be receiving a minimum of $1.3 million annually. Each of the 60 hospital sponsored ACT Teams in Ontario should be receiving a minimum of $1.6 million annually. ACT teams save money; it is one of the most well researched and cost effective mental health service models in the world. For every $1 million dollars invested in ACT teams there is at least over $4 million in savings. Between 2014-2017 the Central East LHIN tracked 204 clients admitted to ACT. Result: 90% bed day reductions; $20 million net savings. To underfund ACT Teams is extremely unsound health care policy. MODEL FIDELITY Why do we need Version 3.1 of the Ontario ACT Standards? to clarify grey areas in the 2005 standards to reflect current best practices to prevent service erosion and fidelity drift to clarify discharge protocols and improve flow-through to support stepped care service approaches to protect teams from misguided (and well meaning) intrusions by hospitals/agencies that do not understand the importance of fidelity and appropriate client numbers for both cost and service efficacy As conscientious care providers we need a provincial technical centre, fidelity support resources, a collegial fidelity accreditation process, and clear direction from the Ministry of Health that all teams are expected to abide by the provincial operational standards and thereby provide the best care possible. STAFF-CLIENT RATIOS ACT 1:8 FACT 1:16 ICM 1:25 CM 1:25-50 There is a clear service objective: the right client, at the right service level, for the right amount of time, with easy and timely transition across service levels. Modifications to these ratios quite simply result in poorer care and poorer outcomes. The pressure to see more clients with fewer staff reflects a lack of appreciation for the complex work and the necessity of frequent crisis management.  SERVICE SATURATION We estimate there are over 7000 heavy service users in Ontario who meet ACT admission criteria but do not have ACT services available. There are 2 to 5 year waits for ACT services in some regions. (see OAAF waitlist study) There are 81 ACT Teams in Ontario. Given our population, we need 130 ACT Teams (50 more teams would produce additional net cost savings of over $600 million). There are 6 FACT Teams in Ontario. Given our population, we need to reorganize our services into 265 FACT Teams. We need to properly develop these critical mental health service levels, otherwise we have a huge volume of inappropriate admissions, hundreds of millions in wasted tax dollars, service logjams that increase cost and service burdens at all levels, and most importantly, people living with serious mental illness suffer needlessly. We hope that collectively we can join our voices in the shared expectation that funders and policy developers will understand, support, and implement all of the elements that we know work best. It is unethical and represents poor fiscal and civic policy to do otherwise. With warm regards, John Maher MD FRCPC President, OAAF (November 11, 2020)