The Forensic Assertive Community Treatment team
Nationally, 2 million people with mental illness are booked into jails each year. In Travis County, 25-30% of individuals in our jail system receive treatment for a mental illness. When people don’t have access to mental health treatment, symptoms and conditions can worsen.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission recently announced that Austin is one of 14 local communities that will receive grant funding to help reduce recidivism, arrest and incarceration of individuals living with mental illness. This award is through Senate Bill 292, co-sponsored by Senator Watson and passed during the last legislative session. Integral Care received preliminary notice of an award anticipated to be $2.5M on an annual basis.
With this funding, Integral Care, in collaboration with Travis County, Central Health and the City of Austin, proposed to establish a new Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) team linked to permanent supportive housing in our community. FACT is an intensive, multi-disciplinary team-based intervention that stops the revolving door of incarceration for individuals living with serious mental illness. FACT will serve individuals who have been arrested for minor offenses or felonies as well as experienced recurring and lengthy in-patient mental health hospitalizations, most of whom are living homeless in our community. Services include mental health care, counseling, medications, family education, primary health care, peer support and permanent supportive housing.
FACT is built on the principals of Integral Care’s Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team, who has been serving the community for 24 years. ACT provides wrap around support services in the community to individuals experiencing mental illness and/or substance use disorder. The new FACT team will be led by Integral Care’s Elizabeth Baker, Practice Manager of ACT and Specialty Services.
Housing First
Pathways to Housing DC adopted the Housing First approach in 2004, which believes that a house is more than four walls. It’s the foundation for recovery from homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorder. Cities across the country, like Austin, are adopting the Housing First model.
