KAREN FRIEDMAN: Could you tell everyone what a mentor court is and what have you learned from serving on a mentor court?
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: So a mentor court is a court that's chosen by, of course, All Rise to serve in a leadership capacity with respect to specialty courts. And so as a mentor court, we have the opportunity to have other courts come in and visit and they observe us to see what we're doing well, and we learn from them as they learn from us as well. We also make sure that we are available to answer any questions that they may have and to help them in their journey to becoming stellar courts.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: And what have you learned in that role?
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: So, as a mentor court, what I have learned is that best practices are to be practiced. However, they are to be done with the human touch. That's one thing that I really love about mentor court is that we get to show individuals how best practices should be done in the courts but, also, to give them an opportunity to practice humanity and empathy and humility. Also with mentor courts, I have learned that you have to keep an open mind, that you're there to learn as well, because we also learn from the courts that come to visit us. And so it has been a wonderful experience to serve as a mentor court.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: That's amazing. What role do you feel treatment courts play in helping communities address substance use?
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: Treatment courts, I believe, are vital to helping communities. Treatment courts, I believe, provide more of a holistic approach. Historically, we've had the police doing their thing. We've had legislators doing one thing. We've had the courts doing another thing. And so treatment courts, I believe, provide the opportunity to bring all of those entities together so that we can really, really make a difference.
And when we can make a difference between police, legislators, the court, the hospitals and it impacts—it positively impacts the community. And, of course, we get better outcomes, not just for the people that are in specialty courts but also for families, for children, for the school system, for the neighborhoods. And the list just goes on and on. So I believe that specialty courts are very much so a vital part of addressing substance use.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Yeah. Definitely. What advice would you give to a team that's trying to start out developing a treatment court?
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: My advice would be do it, because sometimes it can be overwhelming when you look at all of the work. I would encourage them to just do it. Also, I would tell them don't be afraid to reach out for support. Don't be afraid to get educated about what treatment court really is. Sometimes as judges, we don't want to ask for help. Ask for help. You'll never know everything. I've been doing this since 2017. I still come to conferences every year. I still get online and do the educational courses because I don't know everything. Because people are always evolving. Things are always changing. And so don't be afraid to ask for help.
The other thing I would tell, especially the judge, make sure that your team members, that they know their discipline. Make sure they know what role they play on the team, because that's going to be very important to the success of your treatment court program. And then, lastly, I would say to a judge—because that's how I serve—is that, "Listen, the black robe gives you power, but in specialty courts and treatment courts, that power should be to empower other people. To rebuild their lives. To transform their lives." And so you have to exercise a level of humility. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. We all make them, but learn from them.
But do it. It's hard work. It's a lot of work, but it is worth it because you will start to see the improvement, not only in the number of cases that you see coming through the courthouse but also the quality of life in the community.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: It's so rewarding, isn't it?
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: It is. It is.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: The most rewarding professional experience . . .
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: It is.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: . . . of my life. It really . . .
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: Yes.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: . . . it really, really is. The Adult Drug Court Standard Practices number 2 discusses equity and inclusion and the importance of equity and inclusion. How have you been able to incorporate that standard into your courtroom?
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: So with respect to my courtroom, when I first came in, it really took leadership sitting down to look at who's coming into the program, who's successfully completing the program, who's not successfully completing the program, and then asking yourself why.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Right.
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: Why did someone get excluded? Why did this person get included? Why did this person finish and why did this person not finish?
And so we had to ask those really tough questions. And then we had to be willing to reach out, get training. We had to be willing to sit down and hear some of the things that we could do differently so that we make sure that people that should be in our program, that they are included in our program.
One of the things that we did was we found that there was this standard “violent offender.” And so everybody had their own definition of violent offender. The prosecutor had their definition. Defense counsel had their definition. I had my definition. And so it was bringing all of the parties together and say, "Listen, what does the legislation say about ‘violent offender’?" Because we were finding that African-Americans were not getting into the program because they had domestic violence charges or because they were resisting an arrest and—resisting and obstructing an arrest or what have you. And so on the surface, sometimes a crime can sound like a violent offense but it's not actually a violent offense.
So one of the ways that we were able to do equity and inclusion, now we look at if there is a factor that the prosecutor says, "This person should not be included," we look at that factor and determine, as a team, okay, what happened? Why?
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Right.
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: What was going on with this person?
One of the things I also look at is if the individual is going to—for the crime that they're currently being charged with—if they are going to be supervised in the community. I would rather see them supervised in a treatment court as opposed to disqualify. And now you have an issue that we can address, we have the ability to address, but we're sending you out into the community to do it on your own. So those are just some of the things that we've done with respect to equity and inclusion. And that's a really hard task when you have prosecutors that prosecute, defense attorneys that defend, and a judge that wants to help everybody, right?
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Right. Right. Everyone has their own interest that they're . . .
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: Absolutely.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: . . . protecting. Yes. Yeah.
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: And so that's how—that's how we have been able to do it. And we still have some challenges that we have to overcome, but what we have noticed is that our inclusion numbers with respect to African-Americans and people of color, that our numbers have increased.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: That's wonderful. And I understand that you've also incorporated a new program called HEAT into your treatment court, that is geared towards getting better results for Black men who are come—who are in the court. Is that correct?
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: Absolutely.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Okay.
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: We absolutely love HEAT.
So, as you know, HEAT is Habilitation, Empowerment, Accountability Therapy. And so we actually learned about HEAT here at All Rise. And we said, "We absolutely have to bring it back to Detroit." And so we had the opportunity to be trained as a team—the entire team and a provider was certified in HEAT. And what I was finding is that I had African-American males that were in the program who were doing pretty much everything I asked them to do but they weren't going to therapy.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Right.
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: And so I couldn't understand, “Why aren't you going to therapy? You're doing the hard stuff.”
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Right.
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: Like you're really doing the hard stuff. You're abstaining. You're testing. You're showing up for court. The things that you told me you wouldn't do, you are doing them, but you're not going to therapy and you need it. And so I kept hearing back that, you know, “They can't relate to me. They don't understand.”
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Right.
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: And people believe that—at least I think people believe that HEAT is specifically for African-American males, but I want to look at more of culture because culture is irrespective of color. We have people that are not African-American who have grown up in the city of Detroit—which we have a very unique culture there—and they have lived in that culture.
And so they have been subjected to some of the same things, some of the same issues, some of the quality of life . . .
KAREN FRIEDMAN: Traumas. And traumas. Yeah.
JUDGE SHANNON A. HOLMES: . . . issues, trauma that African-Americans have been, you know, exposed to. And so they have the opportunity to do HEAT, which addresses cultural, what's going on in our community.
And when I started sending—or the individuals were being clinically assessed to go to HEAT, because we have our own clinical assessor that works for us, and they were going to HEAT—I found—we did our first graduation class and these were gentlemen who had never said more than, “Yes,” “No,” “Maybe”—you know, really didn't want to be here. And they are now doing presentations and tapping into, you know, "Judge, I get it. I know the source of my hurt and I have a different way of dealing with it."
And so it's just incredible to see these individuals evolve. So I love the fact that there's a spiritual component because in the African-American culture, whether you went to church or not—and it's not . . . We don't force God on people. What we do indicate to them is that you cannot be successful at anything in life, especially overcoming addiction, without good orderly direction. That was something I learned here during my HEAT training. And so the spiritual component is excellent. The cultural component is excellent. And so I absolutely believe in and love the programming.
KAREN FRIEDMAN: So powerful.
