Fw: ACT brings services to mentally ill

> Michigan City News-Dispatch
> Sep 23 2002
>
> ACT brings services to mentally ill
> By Deborah Sederberg
>
> Back in the 1970s, when the country began to shutter psychiatric
> hospitals,
> the experts said people with mental illness are best served when they are
> treated in their community.
>
> For nearly 30 years, mental health care providers have been grappling with
> serious questions.
>
> Who will treat the seriously mentally ill? How will clinicians see that
> clients who are not hospitalized take their medications? Where should
> treatment be offered?
>
> The Swanson Center, LaPorte County’s community mental health facility, is
> one
> of a handful in the state to launch a pilot program designed to bring
> services to clients. In traditional programs, therapists expect clients to
> come to them for services.
>
> Lia Hicks, a trainer and consultant with Indiana’s Assertive Community
> Treatment (ACT) initiative, spoke about the program Friday during a
> seminar
> organized by the Swanson Center.
>
> An ACT team, typically six to 10 members, might include a registered
> nurse, a
> vocational specialist, a psychiatrist, other mental health professionals,
> a
> substance abuse specialist and a case manager. The idea, Hicks said, is to
> build a cocoon of care around clients. Therapists visit clients in their
> homes.
>
> ACT is a long-term program. “Clients are not expected to graduate. The ACT
> team says, ‘We’re here forever,’” said Hicks.
>
> Bert Clemons, executive director of the Swanson Center, said ACT services
> are
> offered to clients with the most severe forms of mental illness.
>
> The Swanson Center was selected as an ACT pilot site by the Indiana
> Division
> of Mental Health and Addictions, which also picks up the tab.
>
> Currently, the Swanson Center has about 35 clients enrolled in ACT, under
> the
> care of a seven-member team. Typically, a client would have face-to-face
> contact with a team member two or three times a week, more in times of
> crisis. In addition, clients receive telephone calls.
>
> “A team member might call to remind them to take their medication,” said
> Norma Durr, supervisor of case managers for the Swanson Center’s Michigan
> City outpatients.
>
> The team nurse visits some clients. Other clients get advice and
> assistance
> from team members who know how to secure safe, affordable housing. Other
> clients might enlist the aid of a team member to help with family
> difficulties.
>
> A client in the audience Friday said her grown children wonder why she
> needs
> so much medication. That question, Hicks said, is precisely the kind a
> team
> member might be able to answer.
>
> ACT team leader Jeff Pollack is excited about the program. He believes it
> has
> the potential to keep some clients out of jail and get them a job and keep
> them employed. Clients enrolled in ACT are hospitalized less frequently
> than
> are similar clients in traditional therapy.
>
> Pollack moved from Chicago to work in this program. “To have this program
> and
> to be able to wrap ourselves and our services around clients to get them
> what
> they need is ideal.”
>
> A client in the audience agreed. “This is the best thing to happen to M
> ichigan City in a long time,” she said.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --
>
> Program’s primary goals
>
> Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), a relatively new program for treating
> people with mental illness, lists five primary goals:
> • To lessen or eliminate the debilitating symptoms of mental illness and
> minimize or prevent recurrent acute episodes of the illness.
> • To satisfy the client’s basic needs and to enhance the quality of life.
> • To improve functioning in adult social and employment roles and
> activities.
>
> • To increase individual control and support recovery.
> • To lessen the family’s worry, concern and total responsibility for
> providing care and promote the restoration of normal family relationships.