San Francisco County Implements Laura’s Law To Provide Involuntary Assisted Outpatient Mental Health Treatment

On November 2, 2015, San Francisco County, California implemented Laura’s Law to provide involuntary assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) for adults with untreated serious mental illness (SMI). AOT is a type of civil commitment that provides intensive behavioral health services, medication, and care management without requiring that the person be admitted to an inpatient psychiatric hospital. Before the imposition of court-ordered treatment, the county Department of Public Health Care Team will first act on public reports about at-risk individuals by seeking to engage them in voluntary treatment. AOT will be a last resort. The Care Team will be . . .