'Trauma Identification and Treatment Enhancement Project'

The Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program is designed to assist states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments in developing and establishing drug courts for substance-abusing adult and juvenile offenders. Drug court programs funded by the Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program are required by law to target nonviolent offenders. The program supports the following activities: adult drug court implementation, single jurisdiction drug court enhancement, statewide drug court enhancement, and planning efforts.

The 22nd Judicial Circuit Court's St. Louis Adult Drug Court requests grant funds for the purpose of enhancing services for evidence-based screening and treatment for trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. The Drug Court and Community Alternatives posit that implementing evidence-based integrated co-occurring treatment will improve the graduation rate for a significant sub-population of participants in the St. Louis Drug Court and that inviting the court's network of treatment providers to training about evidence-based trauma treatment will result in more informed providers within the local system of care.

Each year 60,000 criminal cases are processed through the city jail, including all clients identified during the pretrial process and referred to the Drug Court. Averages of twenty individuals per week are referred to the Drug Court for a twelve to eighteen month, three component program (Pre-treatment, Primary Treatment, and Relapse Prevention). During the primary treatment component, a full continuum of treatment services are provided, and under the relapse prevention component, two treatment groups and monthly individual sessions are conducted to monitor each client's relapse prevention plan. Participants who successfully complete six months of relapse prevention with twelve continuous sanction-free weeks, who are fully employed or engaged in an education program, and have paid all fees are eligible to graduate.

CA/NCF