About OCEACT and Assertive Community Treatment
The Oregon Center for Excellence of Assertive Community Treatment (OCEACT) is dedicated to advancing high-quality, recovery-oriented Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) services and outreach for individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness. We support ACT teams in providing compassionate, culturally responsive care in the community, ensuring that ACT services remain evidence-based while being driven by each individual's needs, preferences, and goals, reducing stigma and helping them live satisfying lives within their communities.
OCEACT’s History
The Oregon Center for Excellence of Assertive Community Treatment is a training and technical assistance center that promotes excellence in Assertive Community Treatment across Oregon. OCEACT has provided training and technical assistance to ACT Teams in Oregon since 2013. Housed initially with Options for Southern Oregon, OCEACT moved to Portland State University in 2025. It is now housed within the PSU Regional Research Institute, School of Social Work.
What OCEACT Does
Through comprehensive training on the ACT model and related evidence-based practices, as well as external fidelity reviews, the Center supports accountability and continuous quality improvement of ACT services statewide.
We support ACT Teams through:
- In-person and remote consultations and trainings
- Statewide conferences for ACT providers
- Regional gatherings of ACT Teams and their community partners
- External fidelity assessments of how closely ACT Teams are providing services according to the evidence-based ACT model
OCEACT’s ultimate goal is to help providers serve ACT participants in the manner that has been shown to positively impact their lives. In support of this goal, OCEACT provides the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) with evidence of each Team’s level of training and fidelity to the model. In concert with its own oversight and knowledge of these publicly funded programs, OHA uses this information to certify high-fidelity ACT teams, ensuring that anyone, anywhere in Oregon, can trust that they are receiving ACT services as designed.
We also maintain a full list of Oregon’s certified ACT Teams.
Assertive Community Treatment is the highest level of community based treatment available in Oregon.
When providers meet people where they are at both literally and figuratively, it has practical and builds trust. ACT is designed for people living with a diagnosis of serious mental illness. OCEACT provides advocacy and helps to reduce stigma, and promote hope, recovery, and self-sufficiency for individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness.
ACT Characteristics
- Comprehensive, individualized services
- A small staff/client ratio
- Community-based services delivered where they are needed
- A shared caseload
- Time-unlimited services
- High intensity, yet flexible service delivery
- 24/7 Crisis availability
ACT Is for:
Individuals living with serious mental health diagnoses who experience high acuity and significant difficulty with performing practical daily living tasks.
ACT Isn’t for:
Individuals with a primary diagnosis of substance abuse disorder, intellectual developmental disabilities, personality disorders, traumatic brain injury, or autism spectrum disorder.