Public Source: “Allegheny County’s adoption of assisted outpatient treatment, or AOT, has some mental health experts worried about coercion and overreliance on medication, but the county says it has safeguards in place and an advisory group in the works.

On Jan. 1, the county implemented the controversial legal tool for involuntary mental health care in the community — a decision that was sharply criticized by advocates, including one who called it “carceral.” County officials, though, said the program’s goal is to decarcerate people with serious mental illness or keep them from entering the criminal legal system. They’re beginning to detail the mechanics of a process that hasn’t previously been used in the state.

Erin Dalton, director of the county’s Department of Human Services (ACDHS), wrote that “no one will be arrested or jailed for not following their treatment plan” in a Dec. 23 letter to Jennifer Smith, deputy secretary for the state’s Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

During a group interview with Pittsburgh’s Public Source, Dalton and other county human services officials explained how the program will minimize contact with law enforcement: Instead of police officers taking a person into custody and transporting them to a health care facility — which is often what happens to those who are involuntarily hospitalized — a treatment team will hand-deliver a court summons to a person who is the subject of an AOT petition, or it will be mailed to them.”

This article reports that ALC Court Watch director Autumn Redcross is a confirmed AOT advisory group member.

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