Ontario ACT Fast Facts

Savings Facts

How many fewer psychiatric hospital days?

During the period 2005 – 2006, our first round of ACT teams represented 4,048 clients, who used 27.2 psychiatric hospital days one year post-ACT, versus 70.9 bed days one year pre-ACT. This resulted in over 176,500 psychiatric hospital days being freed up, and available for other use.

How much money did those reductions save?

The estimated cost savings associated with bed day reductions such as these is over 105 million dollars.  There has also been an increase of 36% in ACT clients living in single accommodation.

Are ACT teams at or over capacity?

There is a need for a large number of new Assertive Community Treatment teams as the majority of teams are at or over capacity.  There has been one new team introduced in the Niagara Falls region, implemented in 2015.

The province has also introduced a few FACT teams in the last few years in Toronto, Ottawa and Waterloo.

How many ACT teams are there currently?

There are 79 MOHLTC–funded ACT teams spread across the province of Ontario, from Kenora and Timmins in the north to culturally diverse metropolitan teams in Toronto and the GTA, from rural communities such as Strathroy in the southwest to the Leeds, Grenville, South Lanark ACT team in Eastern Ontario.  Every large urban Ontario community has at least one and often multiple ACT teams, including cities such as Windsor, London, Hamilton, Toronto, Guelph, Kingston and Ottawa.  Teams have been placed to meet the growing needs for mental health services in fast growing municipalities across the GTA (Mississauga, Halton, Burlington, Peel, Vaughan, Newmarket, Durham, etc.)

Background Facts

1991

The earliest ACT team began in the Brockville area with the pioneering work of Dr. Hugh Lafave during the early 1990’s. Kingston Psychiatric Hospital started a pilot ACT team in 1991.

14 teams

Southwestern Ontario began the development of ACT in the 1990’s, and now has 14 teams in that region.

2005

The first set of Ontario Provincial Assertive Community Treatment Standards was released in October 1998 at the first ACT conference in Toronto, Ontario.  The second edition arrived in October 2004 with an update in January 2005.

6,000 clients

Nineteen new teams were implemented between 2004 and 2007.  Bob Wales (recipient of Hugh Lafave award, 2010) and Ruth Woodman (recipient of Hugh Lafave award, 2012), ACT experts in the field, were contracted to assist in the training and technical assistance for those teams.  They also assisted in many fidelity reviews in the province of Ontario. Ontario teams are now serving close to 6,000 ACT clients and counting.

Musgrave, Desousa

Dr. Ian Musgrave (recipient of the Dr. Hugh Lafave award, 2001) and Henry Desousa (recipient of the Dr. Hugh Lafave award, 2001) developed ACT Ontario and began the important process of completing fidelity reviews of the ACT teams in Ontario.

Davidson, Herskowitz

Brian Davidson, (recipient of the Dr. Hugh Lafave award, 2003) former Manager of the Supportive Housing, Division of the Ministry of Health was the leader in promoting ACT teams in the province of Ontario.  He had a passion for the effective work that ACT was doing in the province and was very dedicated to the expansion of the model.  Amy Herskowitz, (recipient of the Dr. Hugh Lafave award, 2014) Senior program consultant for mental health was given the task of being the lead with the portfolio of ACT teams in Ontario.

Ontario has dedicated French-language teams—les equips de traitement communautaire dynamique (ECTD) les equips communautaire de traitement intensif (ECTI)—and the Ontario Program Standards for ACT/TCD are available in both official languages.