Treatment Advocacy Center

Programs: Since its inception, tac has been directly involved in treatment law reform in 32 states. At every level, lawmakers and mental health officials rely upon tac for technical assistance in formulating and implementing improved mental health policies, writing legislation and enacting laws. Mental health treatment reform has become a major issue on capitol hill, with tac front-and-center in briefings and as a resource for legislative changes. Tac's signature issue - assisted outpatient treatment (aot) - is now the subject of a series of federal demonstration grants. Tac's implementation team is providing on-the-ground guidance to communities across the country as they implement aot programs. This team provides guidance materials, best practices, connections to other practitioners, and technical assistance without cost to the community. The implementation team also resources a website with implementation guidance for communities to use on their own. This includes faqs, guidance, sample materials from other programs and a host of other resources. During fy17, tac continued its multi-platform educational campaign, known as "abedinstead" to educate the public, media and lawmakers about the loss of needed treatment options, the impacts of untreated severe mental illness and to improve access to timely and effective treatment for those who live with it. Tac's research department launched six new major studies, focusing on issues that have been largely ignored by the broader mental health system. These include studies on the loss of psychiatric hospital beds, the criminalization of the mentally ill, the connection between violence and mental illness and the role of super utilizers in the mental health care system. Each study was widely cited by the media and other researchers and greatly increased our knowledge of the impact of untreated mental illness.