Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $200,000)
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.
The Pima County Juvenile Court Center (PCJCC) will use grant award to initiate the Recovery Connection project to pilot expanded mental health services for youth (12'17 years of age) in Pima County. These youth have been diagnosed with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders, and are facing or could face charges for a misdemeanor or non-violent offense.
This project expands the collaboration plan between PCJCC and one of its contracted adolescent mental health and substance abuse service agencies, Pima Prevention Partnership (PPP), by focusing on the co-occurring disorder treatment needs of adolescents, with priority given to female offenders.
PCJCC and PPP will improve healthy coping skills and reduce recidivism among its targeted adolescent population by using professionally qualified staff to: screen youth detained at PCJCC for co-occurring disorders using validated tools; determine the presence of co-morbid substance abuse and mental health disorders of detained youth using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV-TR criteria; conduct multi-disciplinary discharge planning at PCJCC; and engage 48 qualifying youth in a 12-week gender-specific community-based outpatient treatment program to address the co-occurring disorders following discharge from PCJCC. All participants' court recidivism will be monitored for one year post enrollment.
CA/NCF