Program History and Mission

The Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT), is an outpatient, clinical research unit of the Mendota Mental Health Institute. PACT, also known in the mental health literature as the "Training in Community Living Program" first began as a demonstration project to both implement initial research findings of Mendota researchers in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s (early work), and to further investigate new approaches to providing integrated, long-term treatment to persons with severe and persistent mental illnesses.

PACT has a thirty plus year history of providing treatment and service to Wisconsin residents and has been nationally recognized for its contributions to the field of community mental health treatment. In 1974 Mendota received the American Psychiatric Association Golden Achievement Award for Community Mental Health Programs for the PACT Program. In October of 1998, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) recognized 25 years of documented treatment success of the PACT model in serving persons with severe mental illness, by announcing an initiative to bring the PACT treatment model to every state by the year 2002.

PACT currently provides services to approximately one hundred thirty clients, most of whom are residents of Dane County and all of whom meet the diagnostic and functional criteria for admission to Community Supported Programs as outlined in State of Wisconsin Administrative Code HSS63.

Since its inception in the 1970s, as well as today, the mission of PACT has been to develop, provide, and investigate innovative mental health treatments for persons who have not had optimal treatment responses to existing forms of treatment.

Mendota Mental Health Institute
301 Troy Drive, Madison, WI   53704
Phone: (608) 301-1000  Fax: (608) 301-1358

Last Revised: March 20, 2007