Assertive outreach in Cornwall
David McAuley Clinical Manager, Assertive Outreach Service, Cornwall Partnership Trust
Kim Bowen-Jones Clinical Psychologist, Cornwall Partnership Trust
Rob Warin Project Co-ordinator (Mental Health), Social Services, Old County Hall, Truro
Very little experience or evidence is available on how to create effective service models in rural settings. Here, David McAuley and colleagues share their experience of developing an assertive outreach service in Cornwall
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is a clinically effective approach to managing the care of people with severe mental health problems living in the community (Marshall and Lockwood 2001). It was developed in the United States in the early 1970s to address the difficulties of caring for people with severe mentally illnesses in the community. The main goals of ACT are to keep this client group in contact with services, reduce hospital admissions and improve outcome, particularly in the areas of social functioning and quality of life. The key components of the ACT model have been outlined in more recent years (Teague et al 1998) in order to encourage services to adhere to the aspects of the service model which have been shown to be effective.
Mental Health Practice.
7, 1, 20-23.
doi: 10.7748/mhp.7.1.20.s22
Want to read more?
Already have access? Log in
or
3-month trial offer for £5.25/month
Subscribe today and save 50% on your first three months
RCNi Plus users have full access to the following benefits:
- Unlimited access to all 10 RCNi Journals
- RCNi Learning featuring over 175 modules to easily earn CPD time
- NMC-compliant RCNi Revalidation Portfolio to stay on track with your progress
- Personalised newsletters tailored to your interests
- A customisable dashboard with over 200 topics
Subscribe
Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days.
Buy now
Are you a student? Our student subscription has content especially for you.
Find out more