History

Helping clients help themselves
The roots of ACT lie in the self-help, mutual support system of clients diagnosed with mental illness.  ACT was incorporated in 1956 to sponsor the client-managed “Fireside Friendship Club” for persons recovering from mental illness.

Entrepreneurial spirit of a private agency
Contracts with Model Cities, CETA and County Department of Mental Health enabled ACT over the years to design and implement various programs meeting emerging needs of the mental health community.  Its independence enables ACT to establish collaborations with complementary agencies.  ACT’s innovative and timely projects have been emulated and copied by other agencies.

Responsive to community needs
ACT has diversified, and its mental health services now extend to individual, family and group therapy.  We also developed a focus on parent/child reunification, child trauma, and healing families separated by substance abuse, mental illness or neglect.  Through our Youth Outreach program ACT also targets low-income minority adolescents in downtown San Jose, through a partnership with the Community Day School.  The innovative Women's Project integrates medical and mental health evaluations for dual-diagnoses women.  Self-help and mental health education groups supplement traditional individual therapies.