Solano Mental Health Court Expansion Project

Superior Court of California, County of Solano seeks JMHCP funding to enhance and expand its existing Solano Mental Health Court (MHC), established in 2018 in suburban Solano County, Congressional Districts CA-003 and CA-005. The MHC is a diversion and post-adjudication court operated at the Fairfield Hall of Justice and the Vallejo Solano Justice Center. Solano County is one of the most racially/ethnically diverse counties in the US.

This enhancement will address (1) the rapid growth of this court, requiring additional coordination and administrative support; (2) the lack of clinical case management for a significant number of participants; (3) increasing participant retention and outcomes through peer support services; and (4) the need for professional development to improve team coordination, communication, and training.

The target population is Solano County’s justice-involved, mentally ill population with misdemeanor and felony charges in pretrial diversion, post-plea transfers from other collaborative courts, or probation violators, who assess as high need and moderate to high risk with moderate to severe mental disorders or Co-Occurring Mental Illness and Substance Abuse. The program will serve adults, all genders and races/ethnicities. Risk will be determined by using LS/CMI assessment instrument or the ORAS-Pre-Trial Assessment Tool.

Solano Superior Court and its partners will engage in the following activities to address identified needs: Each year, serve 100 participants with this specialty docket at both courthouses, provide case management to 24 unduplicated participants, and provide 30 participants with a peer support specialist, with 300 participants served over the three-year term of the grant. Deliverables are employing a 1.0 FTE Coordinator/Case Manager, implementation of a new Peer Support Program, a completed Planning & Implementation Guide, modified Policies and Procedures and Participant Handbooks, a Professional Development program, and a Sustainability Plan.

Program-specific Priority Areas addressed:  (1) Promote effective strategies to expand the use of mental health courts and related services; (2) Propose interventions are shown by empirical evidence to reduce recidivism (case management and peer support services); (3) Use of validated assessment tools (LS/CMI, ORAS Pre-trial), (4) Funds used for Public Health and Public Safety, and lastly (5) Active participation of co-applicants in administering the project.

The Court’s mental health partners are Solano County Behavioral Health and the Solano Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.