Catalyst: Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) for Transitional Age Youth

Catalyst provides full-service partnership care to Transitional Age Youth (TAY), ages [confirm age range], who have a serious mental illness and are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in San Diego County. The program is recovery-focused and co-located with a consumer-run clubhouse, giving participants access to a broad range of services designed to support independent, meaningful lives.

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What Is Assertive Community Treatment?

ACT is a team-based model for delivering comprehensive, flexible treatment to people whose needs haven’t been met by traditional, less intensive mental health services. Catalyst’s ACT team provides continuous, individualized care that includes:

  • Psychiatric assessment and medication management
  • Individual supportive therapy
  • Substance use and co-occurring disorder treatment
  • Supportive housing and resource linkageFamily psycho-education and therapy
  • Supportive employment and education planning
  • Legal assistance and advocacy
  • Community integration services
  • Peer support and group counseling

The goal of ACT is to help each person achieve stability, independence, and long-term success.

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How the ACT Team Approach Works

A Full Care Team

Psychiatrists, nurses, mental health professionals, employment specialists, peer support staff, and co-occurring disorder specialists work together to provide ongoing, individualized care.

Care Delivered Where It's Needed

Services are provided at home, at work, or anywhere in the community where support is needed, not only in a clinical setting.

Personalized and Time-Unlimited

Care is customized to each person and continues for as long as it’s needed, with no fixed end date.

Available Around the Clock

ACT services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so support is there for emergencies as well as scheduled care.

Catalyst Eligibility

To qualify, a person generally must meet at least two of the following clinical criteria:

  • A face-to-face evaluation establishes a severe psychiatric disability
  • Current LPS Conservatorship (county or private)
  • At least one hospitalization in the past year, or repeated ER visits, PERT interventions, jail mental health contact, or long-term care hospitalization
  • Major impairment in daily functioning
  • Not currently connected to outpatient treatment
  • Experiencing an acute psychiatric episode that may require SBCM-level services
  • High risk of inpatient psychiatric admission
  • Significant need for care coordination or outreach to maintain functioning in the community (for example: missed appointments, medication non-adherence, or difficulty coordinating across agencies)
  • No existing case manager equipped to address mental health needs

Along with:

  • San Diego County residency
  • Medi-Cal eligibility or indigent status
  • Age [confirm age range]
  • Internal county referral (stepping down from long-term care, or on the county’s high-utilizer list), or currently homeless or at risk of homelessness
  • LOCUS assessment indicating Level 4 (Medically Monitored Non-Residential Services) acuity
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Contact Catalyst

7986 Dagget Street,
San Diego, CA 92111
Phone: (858) 300-0460 | Fax: (858) 300-0461

Your information is confidential and HIPAA-secure.