ACT Center of Indiana
In the summer of 2001, Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA) launched an initiative to create Assertive Community Trea tment (ACT) teams in Indiana. To help support that effort, DMHA funded a technical assistance center, the ACT Center of Indiana, which began as a collaboration of the Department of Psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Adult & Child Mental Health Center of Indianapolis. Our administrative headquarters are located at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center as part of the Center of Excellence on Implementing Evidence-Based Practices. Our academic partners also now include the School of Social Work at IUPUI, the Center for Health Policy, and the Indiana University Sociology Department.
Since 2001 we have helped community mental health providers implement the ACT model. In 2002, we began supporting Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment (IDDT) programs -- a result of our being selected to participate in the larger National Implementing Evidenced Based Practices Project. In 2003, we began helping programs implement Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) through two federally-funded grant projects – one of which focused on peer recovery specialists on ACT teams. We are now working with several VA Medical Centers to implement IMR. In 2007, we were awarded an Interventions and Practice Research Infrastructure Program from the National Institute of Mental Health. This 5-year grant (Recovery Oriented Assertive Community Treatment) provides research infrastructure to our center, helps integrate research and practice at our partner agency, and support pilot projects to help ensure that ACT programs support recovery from severe mental illness. In 2008, we were selected as an IUPUI Signature Center to recognize our unique contribution and help expand our work in family involvement in recovery.
Our approach is to combine training and implementation with ongoing program evaluation and research. Our center is comprised of a team of researchers, clinicians, consultants, educators, consumers, and family members who have experience in ACT and other evidence-based practices. The team includes faculty from the departments of psychology, social work, nursing, and sociology who between them have published hundreds of articles. The team also includes clinicians with years of direct clinical experience. This professional diversity contributes to the breadth of knowledge and experience of our center.