Deschutes County Mental Health Court

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 Deschutes County Mental Health Court (Implementation & Expansion) project will increase the availability of mental health and co-occurring disorder treatment, and improve service delivery for a target population of adults who are diagnosed with a mental illness or dual disorder, have committed a nonperson misdemeanor, and demonstrate a willingness to participate in the project as an alternative to incarceration. The existing program has the capacity to serve only a fraction of those in need. The proposed expansion will allow the County to more than double the number of persons served by the Mental Health Court from a current enrollment of approximately 12 individuals per year to a total of 25; increase the graduation rate from 80% to 85% of all participants; provide crisis intervention training to public safety and community organizations; improve program functionality and coordination between partners; and, enhance the ability to collect, monitor, and report program and participant data.

The grant funds will support: the salary and fringe benefits for a fulltime Mental Health Specialist and 25 percent of the salary of a fulltime Project Coordinator; travel to two national meetings; wraparound services; and, Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training.
CA/NCF