ASSERTIVE COMMUNITY TREATMENT FOR THE SERIOUSLY MENTALLY-ILL IN SUBURBAN SYDNEY - A PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND EVALUATION

Assertive and intensive community treatment for the seriously mentally ill is becoming a widely accepted approach internationally. This type of service is, however, still relatively new in Australia and New Zealand, and it has rarely been fully integrated into a comprehensive catchment area community and hospital mental health service. This paper has two aims. Firstly, it describes an innovative assertive community mental health service in suburban Sydney. This service was initially provided to 64 clients with a serious mental illness, who had previously experienced repeated hospitalisations and were unable to benefit from existing high quality services. Secondly, it presents the results of the ongoing evaluation of this service. Following the implementation of the service, the number of psychiatric bed days occupied by these clients decreased by 62%; the number of clients admitted decreased, client functioning improved and symptom severity decreased, all to a significant degree.