Pa. county begins controversial involuntary outpatient mental health services [View all]

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Updated: Dec. 27, 2025, 9:55 a.m.|Published: Dec. 26, 2025, 4:54 p.m.
By Venure Siriwardane | Public Source
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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The county will establish an advisory group to monitor implementation and review progress through 2026, according to the letter. Confirmed members include a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the director of a local court watch program, an unidentified psychiatrist, two academic experts, a disability rights attorney and the director of a major provider of shelter services in the county.

One member, Nev Jones, an associate professor of social work at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the fiercest critics of the county’s AOT plan, said she’s “not surprised” by the county’s decision to implement the law. She pointed to a nationwide shift in recent years toward strengthening involuntary mental health practices, compounded by an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in July that aims to institutionalize unhoused people who have mental illnesses, substance use disorders, or both.

And it triggered outcry from critics of AOT, including clinical and academic experts who said involuntary care can destroy a patient’s trust in the public mental health system and has serious implications for the civil rights and individual autonomy of some of the most vulnerable people in the county.


https://www.pennlive.com/news/2025/12/pa-county-begins-controversial-involuntary-outpatient-mental-health-services.html


I believe this is the same thing Trump wanted as a solution for homelessness.