Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Collaboration Project

The Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) is funded through the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-414), which was reauthorized in 2008 (Public Law 110-416). The primary purpose of JMHCP is 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 mental health and other treatment services for those individuals with mental illness or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Jurisdictions are eligible to apply for planning, planning and implementation, or expansion funding through JMHCP.

The Iowa Department of Human Rights, Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP), a state juvenile justice agency, will be the fiscal agent for this award of $249,912 for JMHCP Category 2: Planning and Implementation. The CJJP will partner with the Third Judicial District Juvenile Court Services, Jackson Recovery Centers, Siouxland Mental Health Center, Seasons Community Mental Health Center, Siouxland Human Investment Partnership, and other organizations to reduce substance abuse, mental health, and juvenile delinquency issues affecting youth, particularly females, in Northwest Iowa.

Short-term project goals are to establish new juvenile justice/mental health collaborations, cross-train mental health and juvenile justice personnel, and otherwise implement the project. Long-term goals are to increase effective collaboration between the behavioral health and juvenile justice systems, improve outcomes for juvenile offenders with mental health diagnoses, increase public safety in the District, and use limited juvenile justice and behavioral health resources more effectively.

CA/NCF