Civil involuntary outpatient treatment authorises the provision to unwilling psychiatric patients of continuing ambulatory treatment. There is an absence of convincing international evidence for their effectiveness. From 2013 and after the Swiss Civil Code was amended, all cantonal governments enacted legislation for this new form of coercion. In canton Vaud, a working group including jurists, psychiatrists and civil judges has been set up by the Department of health in order to propose involuntary outpatient treatments respectful of patients' rights and proportional to patients' and network's needs. This article describes how involuntary outpatient treatments are locally implemented and assessed in the context of a pilot project limited to one year.