Court implements new behavioral health treatment program in Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties
March 5, 2025
State Agency Press Release from The New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts
SANTA FE – People who repeatedly fail to adhere to voluntary mental health treatment may be ordered by a court to receive outpatient treatment under a newly implemented program serving Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties.
The Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program seeks to help people who repeatedly have been hospitalized or jailed because they do not participate in treatment on a voluntary basis and as a result exhibit violent behavior or threaten harm to themselves or others.
Under the program, family members, behavioral health providers and others can request a court order to require qualifying individuals to participate in community-based treatment for mental health disorders.
“Assisted Outpatient Treatment bridges a gap in available assistance for people struggling with mental illness,” said Chief Judge David K. Thomson. “People with untreated behavioral health disorders are likely to cycle through jails, courts, and hospital emergency rooms without the intervention they need to prevent their condition from worsening.”
AOT provides a new option that allows courts to order outpatient treatment in a community through a civil legal process that protects a person’s due process rights.
Currently, state law provides a civil procedure for the involuntary hospitalization of a person with mental illness who is likely to seriously harm themself or others.
Both of those are separate from the competency determinations that occur in criminal cases for people with behavioral health disorders who are arrested for misdemeanors or felonies.
“The district court worked with local governments, behavioral health providers, the Administrative Office of the Courts and others to develop and implement the Assisted Outpatient Treatment program with funding provided by the Legislature last summer,” said First Judicial District Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid. “The program provides another tool for behavioral health care for the people of Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties.”
The Life Link in Santa Fe will serve as the provider of court-ordered behavioral health services through the AOT program.
“AOT takes a collaborative approach to helping people who struggle with serious mental illness and require support because they have been unable to voluntarily comply with treatment in the past,” said Karl Reifsteck, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
“I am very grateful to our partners in the courts, county government, local government, and providers who came together quickly to work for solutions in behavioral health,” Reifsteck added.
Under the AOT program, a treatment plan is prepared by a behavioral health provider treating an individual and includes input from the AOT participant, family and friends.
The court leads a team, including the AOT program manager and its behavioral health provider, that helps individuals obtain treatment and possible other services such as housing and food assistance.
The court holds the program participant and the behavioral health provider accountable to help ensure the participant adheres to the treatment plan.
The district court implemented the AOT program in January and will officially launch it on Friday at a public event at the Santa Fe County Courthouse during which judicial leaders and community partners will talk about the program.
The event starts at 11:30 a.m. in Chief Judge Biedscheid’s courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse.
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