The Durham County Criminal Justice Resource Center (the lead applicant and mental health partner) is collaborating with the Durham County District Attorney’s office to enhance the capacity of the county’s mental health court and . The Mental Health Court Expansion Initiative (MHCEI) will address two program-specific priority areas: (1) promoting effective strategies to expand the use of mental health courts and related services; and (2) using a validated assessment tool to identify and prioritize individuals with a moderate or high risk of recidivism and a need for mental health treatment.

MHCEI reduces critical gaps in Durham County’s diversion efforts by enhancing treatment supports for mental health court clients and addressing the needs of individuals with mental illnesses who do not meet mental health court eligibility requirements. There are six components of MHCEI: (1) a timely, streamlined, and coordinated screening, assessment, and referral process using validated instruments that assess mental health needs, offense information, and criminogenic risk; (2) a co-located mental health professional within the District Attorney’s Office to triage cases and screen and assess potentially eligible individuals; (3) enhanced treatment services for mental health court clients, particularly for people without Medicaid; (4) additional diversion programming for people who do not meet the mental health court criteria; (5) collaboration with specialized mental health probation officers; and (6) cross-agency trainings for mental health and criminal justice partners.

During the planning year, the applicant and partner will lay the groundwork for the six primary activities. In accordance with mental health court best practices, the partners will establish an inter-disciplinary advisory team of stakeholders from criminal justice, mental health, and substance use service providers to assist with planning and administration of the project. At the end of the planning year, the applicant team will produce a detailed protocol for mental health court operations, a logic model, and a flow chart diagramming the screening, assessment, referral, and engagement process. At the close of the project period, the applicant team will provide a summary of the process and outcome evaluation reporting on the project activities, as well as clients’ mental health (e.g., treatment engagement) and criminal justice outcomes (e.g., re-arrests, convictions). The University of North Carolina is a proposed subcontractor for evaluation. Durham County received the following JMHCP awards: FY2006, FY2008, FY2010, and FY2016, and FY2021 Connect & Protect.

Hennepin County, Minnesota will reduce excessive justice system involvement for its residents with mental illness or co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders by expanding hours, lines of service, and client engagement at its Behavioral Health and Wellness Clinic in Minneapolis. The clinic is a comprehensive mental health and substance use disorder drop-off crisis stabilization center, where law enforcement officers can divert individuals for care and treatment rather than bringing them to a detention facility. Key project activities will include expanding clinic services to evening hours, developing and piloting a new competency restoration service at the clinic, and implementing effective client engagement strategies to inform ongoing clinic quality improvement. Key deliverables of the project include increasing the number of clinic visits from 1,250 in Year 1 to 7,000 in Year 3; creating and piloting a clinic-based competency restoration model with 25 residents; and collecting 250 hours of input based on lived experiences from 75 clinic clients. The targeted benefits are a 30 percent reduction in detention for participants in clinic services; reductions in racial disparities among clients; improved readiness to scale community-based competency restoration services; and client-informed improvements to clinic policies, procedures, facilities, and lines of service. The lead applicant is Hennepin County’s Adult Behavioral Health Division, and the partnering applicant is the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office. Numerous other justice partners, including the Hennepin County Sherriff’s Office, Minneapolis Police Department, suburban police departments, the 4th Judicial District, the Public Defender’s Office, and the County Attorney’s Office, will also collaborate on project activities. The Hennepin County Criminal Justice and Behavioral Health Initiative Task Force will serve as the interagency advisory board. Hennepin County received the following JMHCP awards: FY2015 and FY2018.

The Maine Department of Corrections (MEDOC) partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Maine branch (NAMI-ME) and Health Affiliates of Maine (HAM) to address the rising rates of female incarceration due to opioid use, mental illness, and co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders. MEDOC plans to address the increase in female incarceration in 3 ways: (1) by providing mental health first aid training to 240 women incarcerated in 2 female correctional facilities; (2) by training 5 formerly incarcerated women to serve as peer support specialists and to assist with the delivery of the Inspiring Minds peer education group, which will be delivered in prison to women who are currently incarcerated; and (3) by preparing women to engage in clinical services upon their release from prison and scheduling an appointment with a community treatment provider for them to meet with post prison. Lastly, correctional staff will participate in gender-specific Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training to better understand how to respond to the needs of women who are incarcerated. On a quarterly basis, all project-related data will be sent to an external evaluator who will prepare the data for an annual summary that will include a review of proposed outcomes.