Utah FY23 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program

The prevalence of brain injury among justice-involved is much higher than that of the general population (46-87% compared to 8% in the general population).  Recidivism rates are approximately 40% higher for individuals with brain injury versus their peers without brain injury. The prevalence of brain injury among incarcerated women and domestic violence (DV) perpetrators is alarmingly high with studies showing a rate of 97% of female offenders with brain injury and greater than 50% prevalence of brain injury in DV Perpetrators. 
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the Utah Department of Corrections, proposes to develop and implement a training, screening, support, and referral project to identify justice-involved women and DV perpetrators who have a history of brain injury within county jails. The number to be screened and supported will be determined during the planning phase. This project aims to reduce recidivism for the target population by screening for brain injury and building capacity of the justice system to support those with brain injury. Once identified with brain injury, individuals will be provided neuro-resource facilitation, psychoeducation, peer support, and evidence-based neurorehabilitation as they exit the justice setting. Individualized rehabilitation programs will be based upon cognitive deficits. Therapies employed will include cognitive retraining, compensatory strategies, mindfulness training, self-instructional training, metacognitive skills training, and goal management training. Expected deliverables and outcomes from this project will include an evidence-based screening and support protocol, psychoeducation curriculum, and peer support model. The expected outcome of the project is to reduce recidivism for female offenders and DV offenders with brain injury. 
County jails (a minimum of one urban and one rural) will be the service areas for this project. Subrecipient activities include screening protocol development, psychoeducation and peer support model development, neuro-resource facilitation, and cognitive therapy. The specific beneficiaries of this project will include justice-involved women who have experienced DV and brain injury as well as the DV perpetrators. Ultimately, the justice system and the state are beneficiaries of cost savings with a reduction in recidivism and increased public safety. 
This project seeks consideration for the following priorities areas; advancing racial justice and support for underserved communities, females, use of evidenced based interventions, use of validated assessment tools, and document that funds are used for re-entry. 
The amount of Federal funding requested is $550,000 over the 36 months of the grant project.