The Baldwin County Commission has approved another year of funding for AltaPointe Health's Assisted Outpatient Treatment and Crisis Response Team, backing a program credited with reducing arrests, jail time and hospital stays among people with serious behavioral health needs.

The agreement totals $384,687 for the coming year and will be supplemented with opioid funds for cases that show a documented link to opioid addiction, a news release said.

Assisted Outpatient Treatment is a court-ordered program that provides intensive services and monitoring for people who cycle through repeated hospitalizations and frequent encounters with law enforcement and who live with chronic, severe mental illness or substance use disorders. Over the last two years, the Baldwin County AOT team has reported 3,635 interactions with enrolled participants.

Program data show sharp drops in hospitalizations and arrests after enrollment. Participants spent 3,341 days in psychiatric hospitals in the 12 months before entering the program. Since AOT team management, that number has fallen to 609 days. Arrests declined from 87 in the year before enrollment to 23 afterward.

The release said the AOT team also has responded to 2,520 calls involving justice-involved individuals through in-person and remote co-responses with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and municipal departments. Per the release, 83% of people served have a diagnosed substance use disorder.

County funding helps AltaPointe sustain and expand these services for residents and supports growing demand for crisis response across the region. Officials say the program delivers measurable outcomes along with harder-to-quantify gains such as closer working relationships between mental health providers and law enforcement that encourage pre-arrest diversion, mental health intervention after arrest, medication assistance and stronger coordination with courts and community partners.