Event Information
Join your colleagues from across the state on September 29 & 30, 2026 in Troy, NY for the NYS Office of Mental Health and ACT Institute for Recovery-Based Practice ACT-In-ACTION Conference.
This conference is for adult ACT Team members only. Conference registration will be complimentary for all presenters and adult ACT Team staff (attendees will be responsible for their individual travel and hotel accommodations).
ACT In ACTION highlights the power of multidisciplinary teamwork to transform recovery oriented care for individuals with serious mental illness and co-occurring conditions. The conference emphasizes how strong professional relationships, intentional team synergy, integrated treatment practices, and effective transitions across services and life domains contribute to improved participant outcomes and enhanced team effectiveness.
Grounded in evidence-based ACT principles, the conference will explore how team members move beyond their individual specialties to work collaboratively in action—strengthening engagement, coordinating care, addressing co-occurring mental health and substance use needs, and supporting participants through critical transitions. Through practical strategies, real-world examples, and interactive learning experiences, attendees will examine how relationship-centered practices and integrated workflows can improve continuity of care, promote recovery, and sustain high-quality ACT services.
Participants will leave with actionable approaches for strengthening collaboration, enhancing integrated treatment delivery, improving transitions of care, and cultivating a culture of synergy that supports both staff and participants.
ACT Symposium Goals & Learning Objectives
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Describe the role of relationship-centered practice in promoting participant engagement, trust, recovery, and long-term success within ACT services.
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Identify strategies for strengthening team synergy through effective communication, shared responsibility, role clarity, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
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Apply integrated treatment principles to address co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions while supporting whole-person recovery.
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Recognize common barriers to integrated and coordinated care and develop practical solutions that enhance team effectiveness and participant outcomes.
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Implement evidence-informed approaches for managing transitions, including shifts in care (Flex ACT), graduations and step-downs, hospital discharges, housing changes, employment support, and other movement across levels of care.
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Develop & Utilize workflow and communication strategies that improve continuity, accountability, and coordination among ACT team members and community partners.
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Demonstrate methods for engaging families, natural support, and community resources as active partners in recovery and transition planning.
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Develop an individualized action plan for strengthening relationships, enhancing integrated treatment practices, and improving transitions within their own ACT program.
Agenda
Agenda at a Glance
Tuesday, September 29
7:30am – 8:45am
Registration & Coffee with Vendors
8:45am – 9:00am
Welcome – TBA
9:00am – 9:45am
Keynote Presentation: TBA
9:45am – 10:00am
Break with Vendors
10:00am – 11:15am
Concurrent Sessions
1. Reframing the “Difficult” Client: Reflecting on Attitudes and Beliefs
2. Building High-Performing ACT Teams
3. Building Trust, Supporting Recovery: The INSET Approach
11:15am - 11:30am
Break
11:30am – 12:45pm
Concurrent Sessions
1. Interpersonal Relations in Nursing: Bringing Nursing Theory to the Wellness Self Management Recovery Program (WSMRP) Visit
2. Trust Before Treatment: The Foundations of Engagement & Relationship Buildin
3. ACT Workforce Solutions Lab: Strategies for Recruitment and Retention
12:45pm – 1:30pm
Lunch
FACT Team Networking
1:30pm – 2:45pm
Concurrent Sessions
1. Parenting as a Recovery Role: Integrating Family-Focused Practice into Assertive Community Treatment
2. ACT Doesn't Work For (or with) Personality Disorders: From Opposition to Opportunity- New title needed
3. Building a Culture of Collaboration: Strengthening Teamwork, Agency Support, and Community Partnerships to Improve Client Outcomes Through ACT, Flex ACT and IPS.
2:45pm – 3:00pm
Break with Vendors
3:00pm – 4:15pm
Concurrent Sessions
1. Employment is Everyone's Job: Building an Employment-Focused Culture Across the ACT Teams
2. Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) as Alternative-To-Incarceration (ATI) in New York City
3. NYS Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) and Enhanced Voluntary Agreement (EVA)
4. Healthy Alliance, SCN Janelle
Wednesday, September 30
8:30am – 10:00am
General Session: New York State Initiatives for Assertive Community Treatment
10:00am – 10:15am
Break
10:15am – 11:30am
Concurrent Sessions
1. Using PSYCKES for ACT Teams
2. Team Safety & Wellness | My Wellness = Team Wellness
3. Challenges, Surprises and Everything in Between: One Team's Journey to Flex ACT
4. Program Operations: Interpreting, developing, and implementing program guidance
11:30am – 11:45am
Break - Foyer
11:45am – 1:00pm
Concurrent Sessions
1. Finding the Strength: Using a Strength-Based Approach to Empower Participants and Prevent Staff Burnout
2. Collaboration is Key: How to Build and Maintain Connections with Justice Agencies
3. ACT Fiscal Models: From Rate Setting to Allocations
1:00pm
Adjournment