The New York State Office of Mental Health has awarded $1 million to HSRI

The New York State Office of Mental Health has awarded $1 million to Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) to lead a 2-year evaluation of court-ordered mental health outpatient treatment, or Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), established in New York under Kendra’s Law (1999).

Through participatory approaches and a strong focus on equity in data collection and analysis, HSRI researchers will compare outcomes of people who receive voluntary outpatient treatment and people who receive AOT.

“It is our [shared] commitment … to elevate and center the perspectives of people with lived experience,” said HSRI Director of Behavioral Health Bevin Croft, who will co-lead the project team with the University of Pittsburgh’s Nev Jones.

HSRI will leverage its behavioral health systems expertise and decades of experience in behavioral health outcomes evaluations to complete a comprehensive review of the impacts of AOT in New York State.

Full findings will be reported in 2026.

Read more here: https://www.fingerlakesdailynews.com/regional-state-congressional/nys-mental-healths-assisted-outpatient-treatment-program-to-undergo-review