Positive experiences with Flexible Assertive Community Treatment (FACT)

Several surveys show that there is a need for better mental health services for children and young people. Including many of KBT’s previous projects and surveys, for example My voice matters.

In the ongoing project Room for user involvement, it appears that young people have a great desire for the treatment to also be provided outside BUP’s four walls. Young people want to be met in their own arenas. Fortunately, there is a lot of good work going on to improve the offers. One of these is FACT young.

When the service is where the youth is

In the chronicle “Bedre hjelp for sårbare unge med ny tjenestemodell? ” [Better help for vulnerable young people with a new service model?], which KBT and a number of other competence centers stand behind, we can read that (translated from Norwegian):

“FACT youth teams are interdisciplinary, outreach teams that will provide recovery-oriented, long-term, holistic and coherent follow-up and treatment to young people in the age group 12-24 who have, or are concerned about, serious mental health and/or drug problems , and who need services from several actors.”

In Norway, we have had a pilot period with FACT young teams. The evaluation of the first three pilot teams shows that both the young people and their parents experience a more accessible and better adapted service. The establishment of several new FACT young teams is now underway.

Believes in the FACT young model

Juni Raak Høiseth in KBT is on the national implementation team.  There she works, among other things, to help the teams to ensure user involvement both in preliminary projects, start-up and operation. She strongly believes that FACT young are the way to go to reach those young people who need several different services and help over a longer period of time.