Programs that provide recovery-focused, high intensity, community based treatment, rehabilitation and support services for people with serious and persistent mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder. Services are provided in non-office settings by a multidisciplinary team whose members are trained in the areas of psychiatry, social work, nursing, substance abuse and vocational rehabilitation; and include treatment, help in managing symptoms of the illness, immediate crisis response, case management, peer support, medications, supportive therapy and practical on-site support in coping with day-to-day demands. ACT teams provide nearly all of the treatment and members work collaboratively as a team with blended roles, not as a group of individual practitioners who operate with primary responsibilities of their own. ACT community and clinical services are guided by the consumers' strengths and preferences, an assertive approach, individually tailored programming, ongoing monitoring, variable support, in vivo service, relating to consumers as responsible citizens, direct availability 24 hours per day, utilizing a variety of community resources and collaborating with the family. The ACT model is also known as the Program of Assertive Community Treatment or PACT.

Programs that develop case plans for the evaluation, treatment and/or care of individuals who have mental, emotional or social problems and need assistance in arranging for services; which assess the individual's needs; coordinate the delivery of needed services; ensure that services are obtained in accordance with the case plan; and follow up and monitor progress to ensure that services are having a beneficial impact on the problem.

Individuals who are age 50, 55, 60, 62 or 65 or older depending on the minimum age for qualifying as an older adult which varies by program.

Individuals who are generally between the ages of 18 and 25 depending on the ages that specific programs use for qualification.

A number of mental or emotional conditions of a seriously debilitating nature which progress or do not respond positively to treatment over a period of time and which require adjustments on the part of the individual and his or her significant others, or long-term medication, to make daily functioning possible.

Individuals and families who have no fixed, regular and adequate residence, who are residing temporarily with relatives or friends or who live on the street, in emergency or transitional shelters, in a hotel or motel paid for with a shelter voucher, in seriously substandard housing or in an abandoned building, place of business, car or other vehicle, or other public or private place that is not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for people. Some people who are homeless have issues with substance abuse, chronic or severe mental illness, chronic unemployment or underemployment, or other problems that prevent them from obtaining housing.