Program for Assertive Community Treatment

The Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) is a service-delivery model that provides acute, active, ongoing and long-term community-based psychiatric treatment and assertive outreach, rehabilitation and support to persons with serious mental health conditions. A multi-disciplinary team, comprised of a psychiatrist, nurses, social workers, a vocational rehabilitation specialist, a forensic specialist, a housing specialist, a substance abuse specialist, and a peer specialist, provide an array of recovery-oriented treatment and services based on the individualized needs of the persons served. All team members provide services to individuals in their homes or in other settings of their choice. The team’s service delivery and treatment is integrated and coordinated with all other involved programs and community resources. The PACT team remains available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

The PACT model is effective for individuals eighteen years and older who have serious mental health conditions with symptoms that produce distress and disruptions in daily functioning (e.g. employment, self-care, and social and interpersonal relationships). PACT participants often are persons with diagnoses of schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders, major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. PACT participants are also frequently persons who have not been helped by traditional outpatient mental health models, have had bad experiences in the traditional system or are reluctant to use mental health services for other reasons.

Referrals for PACT services are made through the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health or the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership.