Hennepin County Behavioral Health and Wellness Center Expansion Project

Hennepin County, Minnesota will reduce excessive justice system involvement for its residents with mental illness or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse (MI/CMISA) by expanding hours, lines of service and client engagement at its Behavioral Health and Wellness Clinic in Minneapolis. The Clinic is a comprehensive mental health and substance abuse drop-off crisis stabilization center where law enforcement officers can divert individuals with known or suspected MI/CMISA for care rather than bringing them to detention. Key project activities include expanding Clinic services to evening hours, developing and piloting a new competency restoration service at the Clinic, and implementing effective client engagement strategies to inform ongoing Clinic quality improvement.  Key deliverables of the project include increasing the number of Clinic visits from 1,250 in Year 1 to 7,000 in Year 3, creating and piloting a Clinic-based competency restoration model with 25 residents, and collecting 250 hours of input based on lived experiences from 75 Clinic clients. The targeted benefits are a 30% reduction in detention for participants in Clinic services, reductions in racial disparities, improved readiness to scale community-based competency restoration services, and client-informed improvements to Clinic policies, procedures, facilities, and lines of service. The lead applicant is Hennepin County’s Adult Behavioral Health Division and the partnering applicant is the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office. Numerous other justice partners including the Hennepin County Sherriff’s Office, Minneapolis Police Department, suburban police departments, the 4th Judicial District, the Public Defender’s Office, and the County Attorney’s Office will also collaborate on project activities. The Hennepin County Criminal Justice and Behavioral Health Initiative Task Force will serve as the interagency advisory board.