News

March 15, 2024

Northern Rivers’ Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Youth ACT programs Address Area Need for Mental Health Programs

Northern Rivers’ Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Youth ACT programs deliver an intensive and highly integrated approach for community mental health service delivery to children, youth, and adults in the Capital Region whose symptoms of mental illness lead to serious functioning difficulties.

Clients are referred to our programs because they are struggling with issues, including work, social relationships, residential independence, education, money management, mental and physical health, and wellness. We provide comprehensive mobile, community-based, client-centered treatment, support, and rehabilitation services in homes and community locations, helping clients set and achieve their goals.

Multidisciplinary teams may include team leaders, family specialists, substance abuse specialists, employment specialists, peer support specialists, program assistants, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, clinical supports, and registered nurses. They provide assertive outreach, mental health treatment, physical health care, vocational support, substance abuse treatment, money management, housing support, service planning and coordination, family education, wellness skills, and community linkages, and they’re on-call 24/7/365 to help with crises.

Our individualized, stigma-free approach gives clients the tools to manage their own recovery, and we’re proud that our clients are finding success with us even if they’ve struggled with other treatment options in the past.

It’s working for clients like Siera, 15, from Youth ACT in Queensbury. Siera wrote an incredibly powerful essay about her experiences with loss and pain. She had the courage to submit it to a statewide contest, and she won! Siera received statewide recognition at a ceremony in New York City along with a scholarship. “Siera is a pleasure to work with. She has made tremendous progress in her ability to cope with stressors. With everything she has been through, she is resilient,” says her clinician.

Here are some other program highlights:

Youth ACT Serving Albany and Schenectady Counties

  • In November, the program held a group event with four youth who baked Thanksgiving pies for their families.
  • One of the first youth to join the program won a lead role in a community musical theater production that premiered at the end of January.
  • As a result of the team’s collaboration with a family, the youth is now independently and appropriately managing his own hygiene needs, which has increased the youth’s independence and strengthened appropriate boundaries within the family.

Youth ACT Serving Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties

  • A 15-year-old client was skipping school and was at risk of needing an alternative placement. The Youth Peer Advocate was able to bring him and his mom to a school meeting, proactively plan for how he would advocate and communicate for himself during the meeting, and come up with a plan on how the school could support him. He did an incredible job and has consistently attended school since this meeting. The peer advocate checks in with him each morning to make sure he is prepared for his school day and gets there okay.
  • Another youth has struggled with homelessness and frequent changing of school districts. The team helped the family transport their belongings to storage. This youth’s new school district has been incredible in their communication and in adjusting the educational structure to best meet this youth’s needs. This youth communicated to the team that he has had a lot of providers in his life but feels like Youth ACT has been the most “helpful and supportive to his family.”
  • The team has recently been able to help several client families with their housing needs, securing resources to help furnish an apartment, and aiding in medical treatment.

Adult ACT Serving Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties

  • A client was admitted into the ACT program on his first day out after a long prison sentence. The adjustment to the area and his new freedom was a lot for him to handle at first, let alone attempting to stay psychiatrically stable. Over two years he went from homeless and needing assistance with most facets of his life to maintaining an apartment, a full-time job, and the capacity to manage his own medications. Throughout our team’s work with him, he had no psychiatric hospitalizations.
  • When L. entered the ACT program he had one major goal. All he wanted was to be able to move out of his elderly parents’ home and live independently. Regardless of the obstacles, L. worked diligently alongside the team to find housing that met his needs. Over time the team assisted him in getting his housing subsidized, which allowed him to have more financial wellness. At the time of his successful discharge, he was housed, employed part-time, and had established pharmacy delivery for his medication to his home.
  • At enrollment time, D. would only talk to her team through her hotel room door. She was easily triggered by strangers due to her long history of trauma. She would eventually open the door to engage in our conversations and assessments but would slam the door without warning if she felt scared in any way. After a lot of trust-building, by the time of discharge, D. managed her own medication, maintained employment, and moved in with her partner. The team noted that it was the happiest they had ever seen her.

We’re ready to start the next success story today. Enrollment in ACT services is through local county SPOA committees.

For information on ACT, visit https://www.northernrivers.org/assertive-community-treatment. For information on Youth ACT, visit https://www.northernrivers.org/youth-act