Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County implementing involuntary outpatient mental health care services | Local News

Allegheny County will use a controversial legal tool for involuntary mental health care in the community starting Jan. 1, according to a letter county officials sent Tuesday to the state’s Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Called assisted outpatient treatment (AOT), it’s a law that no other Pennsylvania county has been able to successfully implement since state lawmakers voted for it in 2018.

The county developed its AOT plan based on research evidence, advice from local and national experts, and collaboration with partners across county government, wrote Erin Dalton, director of the county’s Department of Human Services, in the letter addressed to Deputy Secretary Jennifer Smith.

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