Assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) is the practice of providing outpatient treatment under civil court order to individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) who have demonstrated difficulty engaging with treatment on a voluntary basis. When systematically implemented and adequately resourced, AOT can dramatically reduce hospitalization, criminalization, and other adverse outcomes for its target population. Although AOT is authorized by law in nearly every state, most states have a substantial unmet need for programmatic implementation on a local level.