Learn about Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT)
Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) services are offered to individuals who are under court order with severe mental illness who have demonstrated difficulty adhering to treatment on a voluntary basis and have difficulty living safely in the community without close monitoring.
AOT eligibility criteria
- 18 years of age or older and has a severe mental illness
- Clinically determined that, in view of the person’s treatment history and current behavior, at least one of the following is true:
- person is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision and the person’s condition is substantially deteriorating.
- person is in need of AOT in order to prevent relapse or deterioration that would be likely to result in grave disability or serious harm to the person or to others, as defined in Section 5150.
- Has historical lack of compliance with voluntary treatment and at least one of the following is true:
- Within the last 36 months, the person has been hospitalized at least 2 times due to mental illness, including the mental health unit of a state or local correctional facility.
- Within the last 48 months, had one or more acts of serious and violent behaviors or threats or attempts to cause serious physical harm to self or others.
- Offered an opportunity to participate in a treatment plan but continued to fail to engage
- Participation in AOT is the least restrictive placement necessary to ensure recovery and stability
- It’s likely that the individual would benefit from AOT
Who should I contact if I think someone needs assistance through AOT?
Call Behavioral Health Call Center: (800) 704-0900 and select option #3 to speak with AOT team member
What happens after the AOT service request is made?
- Intensive community-based outreach
- Intensive efforts to engage the individual in voluntary treatment
- Mental health assessment to determine if AOT criteria are met
- Court petition process, if needed
- Intensive community-based behavioral health services, voluntary or mandated, as appropriate
Who can request or petition for AOT?
- An individual who is 18 years or older
- An individual with whom the individual subject of the petition resides
- A parent, spouse, sibling, or adult child of the individual subject to the petition
- Directors of public/private agencies, treatment facilities, charitable organizations, or licensed residential care facilities providing mental health services to the individual, in whose institution the individual resides
- A director of a hospital where the individual resides
- A licensed mental health treatment provider supervising the treatment or treating the individual
- A peace officer, parole office, or probation officer assigned to supervise the individual
- A judge of a superior court before whom the individual subject of the petition appears
What services are provided under AOT?
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT):
- Intensive clinical services, including individual and group
- Peer support
- Intensive case management
- Housing assistance
- 24/7 clinical crisis support
- Medication evaluation
**Medication cannot be administered involuntarily.