CBT Skills for Assertive Community Treatment Teams

The Challenge

A state administrator received results from fidelity reviews that Assertive Community Treatment teams were scoring lower in the areas of implementing manualized interventions and providing empirically supported psychotherapy.

The Process

Our team worked closely with another expert in the field to design a series of trainings to train the ACT teams to implement cognitive behavioral skills for persons with serious mental illness.

The Solution

We designed a series of three sessions on utilizing evidence-based, trauma-informed cognitive behavioral psychotherapy interventions. Particular attention was given to cognitive behavioral skills for psychosis to address the specialized needs of persons with schizophrenia and psychosis. The practitioners participated in hands-on training and received ongoing consultation as they implemented these approaches with individuals on their caseload.

The Result

The Assertive Community Treatment teams are using the trauma-informed care intervention along with cognitive behavioral approaches to help their clients make steady progress toward their goals and reduce distressing symptoms.Practitioners report feeling more confident, competent and effective in supporting their clients, especially those presenting with schizophrenia and psychosis.