NY Study Finds Voluntary Care Matches Forced Treatment — SkimNews
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- A new independent evaluation of New York's assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) program found the court-ordered program reduced hospitalizations, arrests, and other outcomes for people with serious mental health conditions like schizophrenia.
- Voluntary treatment achieved comparable reductions in hospitalizations and arrests, according to the independent study authors.
- The independent authors concluded New York should funnel more money toward voluntary services after documenting coercion and harms that people experienced under AOT orders.
- Involuntary outpatient treatment has expanded to nearly every state over the last three decades, though the evidence base for its efficacy has remained "murky," the article notes.
- Bevin Croft, director of Human Services Research Institute's Behavioral Health team and one of the study's authors, said engagement drives outcomes more than legal status: "Whether or not that engagement is voluntary doesn't seem to make a huge difference."
Why it matters: The authors explicitly recommended New York redirect funding toward voluntary services over involuntary court orders — a notable reversal from a treatment model that has expanded to nearly every state over three decades despite murky evidence of efficacy and documented harms to those subjected to AOT.
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