Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $50,000)
The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) seeks to increase public safety through an innovative, cross-system, collaborative response to individuals with mental illness who come in contact with the criminal or juvenile justice systems. This program is funded through Public Law 111-8 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2009). 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 processed 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.
Beaver County Behavioral Health (BCBH) will use the FY 2009 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Planning funds, to develop a plan for systematic change for both adult and juvenile individuals with mental illnesses. The ultimate goal of the BCBH program is to develop a system that will promote public safety and public health by intercepting individuals at the earliest possible point in the criminal justice system and then offering appropriate behavioral health services and supports. This grant will be used to implement a single coordinated strategy to oversee systematic change by creating a plan that would fully implement the Sequential Intercept Model. The funds will facilitate the development of an infrastructure that prevents some individuals from entering the criminal justice system, decreases incarceration, provides for successful re-entry, and maximizes the effectiveness of behavioral health services at each step.
CA/NCF