Nebraska Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Program

The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) seeks to increase public safety through an innovative, cross-system collaborative response for individuals with mental illness who come in contact with the criminal or juvenile justice systems. This program is funded through the Public Law 110-161 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008) and is authorized through Public Law 108-414 (Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act, 2004). The program is designed to increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, and mental health and substance abuse treatment systems to increase access to services for offenders with mental illness. Activities under this initiative will encourage early intervention for 'system-involved' individuals with mental illness; provide new and existing mental health courts with various treatment options; maximize diversion opportunities for non-violent offenders with mental illness and co-occurring disorders; promote training for justice and treatment professionals on criminal justice processes and mental health and substance abuse issues; and facilitate communication, collaboration, and the delivery of support services among justice professionals, treatment and related service providers, and governmental partners.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services will use their 2008 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration (Planning and Implementation) grant funds to build collaborative partnerships to address inter-agency coordination and communication in order to implement system improvements for persons with mental illness in Nebraska's criminal justice system. Nebraska envisions a comprehensive approach to screening, assessing, and treating the mental health needs of individuals involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

The goals of the project are to: provide statewide Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for law enforcement officers and make clear linkages with local crisis response teams; expand or improve access to crisis stabilization services through improved coordination with law enforcement officers; implement standardized mental health and substance abuse screening instruments in the jails that prompt referrals for services; increase resources to community mental health to provide diversion services through the use of forensic intensive case management; and enhance affordable supportive housing for justice involved youth transitioning to adulthood.

The grant funds will support: personnel involved with the City of Wichita Mental Health Court; travel costs for training and conferences; laptop computers; and, operating supplies.

CA/NCF