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Intensive Services

Oversight of Court-Ordered Behavioral Health Treatment

The Intensive Services Unit oversees policies, program development and contract administration in the following areas. Partners in development, coordination and oversight include:

  • Oregon State Hospital
  • Community Mental Health Programs
  • Community-based organizations
  • The courts
  • Tribes
  • The residential treatment system
  • Hospitals
  • Local jurisdictions
  • Psychiatric Security Review Board

Aid and Assist is Oregon’s competency restoration program. The program is for individuals who are:

  • Defendants in a criminal court case and
  • Unable to “aid and assist” in their own defense.

This program works to restore the individual's ability to take part in their own defense. Aid and Assist services can occur in the community or at the Oregon State Hospital.

​House Bill 2420​ (2015) amended Oregon law (Oregon Revised Statutes 166.365 and 161.370) to require courts to review CMHP input about:

Services and supervision needed to restore a defendant's ability, and

Whether such services are available in the community.​​​

Resources for providers

Community Restoration Status/Immediate Notification Reports

  • Purpose: Report status of people ordered to community restoration on or after Sept. 29, 2025.
  • Instructions (PDF)
OHA Notification/Support Request
  • Purpose: Notify OHA when community placement is unavailable, and ask OHA for help finding appropriate placement.
  • ​Instructions​ (PDF)
Consultat​​ion Report
  • Purpose: Submit Initial Community Consult, Supplemental Community Consult, 30-Day Community Transition Planning Update or CMHP Notice of Available Placement.​
  • Instruction​s (PDF) 

Plan of C​orrection

  • ​Purpose: Submit a Plan of Correction for failure to meet one or more requirements in OAR 309-088-0125, OAR 309-088-0130, and OAR 309-088-0146. This is required for defendants ordered to community restoration on or after Sept. 29, 2025.​
  • Instructions​ (PDF)  

Civil commitment​ is a safety net service for people living with mental illness. It is a process for requiring mental health treatment for people who:

  • Are a danger to themselves or others,

  • Cannot provide for their basic needs, or

  • Have been civilly committed twice in the last three years and are in danger of a mental health crisis.

A judge decides whether the person requires civil commitment. Civil commitment may require the person to:

  • Go to a psychiatric hospital or

  • Accept other mental health treatment.​

Learn more about civil commitment​.

​​CMHPs must submit a Plan of Resolution for individuals in intensive treatment when:

  • The individual's care team has recommended discharge,

  • It has been more than 60 days since the recommended discharge date, and

  • The individual cannot be discharged because a more appropriate setting is not available.

The Plan of Resolution serves as a blueprint for the county and OHA. Intensive Services works with the county to approve and coordinate a placement plan. 

The Plan of Resolution must:

  • Identify the barriers in detail.

  • Show how the county has tried to address these barriers.

  • Provide a plan for resolving the barriers.

  • Outline how OHA can help.

Counties must email all Plan of Resolution communications to HSD.IntensiveServicesUnit@odhsoha.oregon.gov.​

Forensic diversion services support individuals who are: 

  • Living with a behavioral health disorder (a mental illness, mental or emotional disturbance, or substance use disorder); and 
  • Involved with the criminal legal system.  

Forensic diversion helps these individuals access behavioral health treatment services in their communities. It can help them avoid: 

  • Admission to the Oregon State Hospital; 
  • Incarceration, probation, or institutionalization; and/or 
  • Ongoing involvement with the criminal legal system.  

Community Mental Health Programs (CMHPs) utilize the Sequential Intercept Model to identify and intervene at key intercepts within the criminal legal system. CMHPs provide behavioral health treatment services to prevent individuals from entering or continuing further into the criminal legal system. OHA oversees the funds CMHPs can access to provide these services. 


​When a criminal court finds a person guilty except for insanity (GEI), the Psychiatric Security Review Board decides the person's care and level of supervision. Intensive Services works with partners to:

  • Help people get the services the Board requires.

  • Oversee the individual's placement and care.

This work includes consulting on cases with complex needs and finding creative ways to fund services.

Learn more and find resources about the Board and GEI on the Board's website​.​