Helping Young People Thrive, Stay Connected, and Succeed in Their Communities
Minnesota is home to approximately 1.2 million adolescents and young adults ages 10-25, representing nearly 1 in 5 Minnesotans. More than half live within the seven-county metro area, and Minnesota’s youth population is becoming increasingly diverse across racial, cultural, and gender identities. At the same time, state leaders continue to identify youth mental health, supportive systems, family engagement, and access to community-based services as critical priorities for adolescent wellbeing.
The Minnesota Department of Health emphasizes that young people achieve the best outcomes when they have supportive adults, meaningful opportunities for engagement, safe communities, and access to high-quality behavioral healthcare. Research highlighted by the state also recognizes that social factors such as housing stability, education, family support, and community connection significantly influence lifelong health outcomes.
Why Youth ACT Matters
For some young people, traditional outpatient therapy is not enough.
Minnesota’s Youth Assertive Community Treatment (Youth ACT)/Intensive Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (IRMHS) program was specifically designed for youth ages 8-20 with serious mental illness or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders who require intensive, coordinated intervention. DHS describes Youth ACT as an intensive, comprehensive, nonresidential rehabilitative mental health service delivered through a multidisciplinary team available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Youth ACT helps young people remain successfully in their homes, schools, and communities while reducing the need for psychiatric hospitalization, residential treatment, and other restrictive levels of care.
What makes Youth ACT unique is that care is delivered where young people live, learn, and grow. Rather than expecting families to navigate multiple providers independently, Youth ACT brings together a coordinated team that may include:
- Mental health professionals
- Psychiatric providers
- Nurses
- Certified Peer Specialists
- Co-occurring disorder specialists
- Educational specialists
- Vocational specialists
- Family supports
- Housing and community resource supports
This integrated approach creates a single, cohesive treatment experience for youth and families while strengthening collaboration with schools, hospitals, counties, juvenile justice systems, and community partners.
Addressing Minnesota’s Need
Minnesota’s adolescent health priorities emphasize:
- Access to youth-friendly mental healthcare
- Supportive systems of care
- Positive relationships with adults
- Safe and stable places to live, learn, and play
- Opportunities for youth engagement and leadership
Youth ACT directly addresses these priorities by providing:
- Intensive community-based support for youth at highest risk
- Family-centered treatment planning
- School and educational coordination
- Crisis response and stabilization
- Substance use treatment integration
- Housing and community support
- Transition planning that prepares youth for adulthood
Because many Youth ACT participants experience repeated hospitalizations, crisis utilization, school disruption, housing instability, or difficulty maintaining safety in the community, Youth ACT fills a critical gap between outpatient treatment and residential care
Why RADIAS?
RADIAS offers a comprehensive continuum of behavioral healthcare services, allowing youth and families to remain connected to one coordinated system of care as needs change over time. This includes outpatient services, First Episode Psychosis programming, Youth ACT, Adult ACT, residential services, crisis services, housing support, and community-based recovery resources.
RADIAS Health’s Youth ACT model is built on:
- Multidisciplinary team-based care
- Cultural responsiveness and equity
- Community-based service delivery
- Family-driven treatment planning
- Integrated mental health and substance use treatment
- Strong partnerships with schools, hospitals, counties, and community providers
RADIAS offers something few providers can: a youth-to-adult continuum of care. As young people transition into adulthood, they can move seamlessly into other RADIAS programs, reducing fragmentation and ensuring continuity of support during some of the most vulnerable years of development. Minnesota’s youth deserve more than crisis response. They deserve comprehensive, community-based support that helps them build meaningful lives, maintain family and community connections, and develop the skills needed for adulthood.
Youth ACT is one of Minnesota’s most effective tools for achieving that goal.
Through intensive, multidisciplinary, and family-centered care, RADIAS Health helps young people remain where they belong: at home, in school, and engaged in their communities, while building a pathway toward long-term recovery and wellness.