Feature
Spotlight on JMHCP: State of New Jersey
Each month the Justice Center spotlights collaborative criminal justice/mental health initiatives that have received funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP). Center staff asks the practitioners in these programs to discuss some successes and challenges they have encountered in the planning and implementation process. This month's profile is from the state of New Jersey Department of Corrections, a 2008 JMHCP Implementation and Expansion Grantee.
Program Summary
The Seeking Safety program is a 14-week program that meets for 90 minutes, two times per week. Upon completing Seeking Safety, graduates are enrolled in another 14-week program, Community Living 101, which also meets twice weekly for 90 minutes. Researchers at the Rutgers University Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research will be studying the effectiveness of these interventions, and results from this study will be used to build and implement programs to help women with histories of trauma recover and live successfully in the community.
How did your jurisdiction realize that there was a need to respond to the prevalence of individuals with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system?
This topic has been the focus of research studies and policy discussions at the local, state, and federal levels. The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) developed a comprehensive inmate mental health service that has documented the scope and range of mental health problems seen in the incarcerated population. The Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research, in collaboration with the NJDOC, has conducted several studies on the needs of inmates with mental illnesses upon release that measured the prevalence of victimization prior to and concurrent with incarceration. The evidence on the overlap of trauma, mental illness, and substance abuse problems informed the decision to implement the Seeking Safety reentry curriculum.
What is the program's target population?
To be eligible, the women must be 18 years or older, convicted of non-violent offenses only, English-speaking, and test positive for substance dependence in the month prior to incarceration, full or sub-threshold PTSD, a DSM-IV Axis I mental disorder, and within 24 months of their parole eligibility or release date. Exclusion criteria include: active psychosis or organic brain impairment limiting the ability to give informed consent, high risk for suicide, currently on suicide watch or having been on suicide watch in the past 3 months, a reasonable expectation of being released to another institutional setting (not to the community), or convicted of a violent offense. Recruitment will occur until 100 eligible women are enrolled.
The initiative was announced in the inmate newsletter, signup sheets for interviews were posted on the units, and a representative of the study gave a promotional presentation to all women within 24 months of their release dates on all units of the facility, at which time they could sign up for consideration.
What has been your biggest challenge and how are you addressing it?
Adding anything new to a highly structured environment is both challenging and rewarding. Because our intervention spans across mental health, social services, and custody domains, it was critical that we “socialize” the intervention prior to implementation. We had several significant planning meetings with senior executive staff at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (EMCFW). The Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research has been collaborating with the EMCFW staff for nearly 10 years, which facilitated the transition, but these ‘brainstorming’ sessions were informative, productive, and crucial to the logistics of program implementation.
To preempt some implementation challenges at the facility level, we provided a list of participants to the head of mental health services and social services, to flag people who might need additional support and to request that appointments with staff not be scheduled during times when Seeking Safety sessions were being held. In addition, we met with all of the correctional officers involved in the movement of the women to the classrooms to ensure that they knew about the program, the timing of the programs, and to discuss any concerns about the participation of the women in the program. We meet weekly with the administrator to give him an update on progress and to discuss issues and concerns.
Another challenge was locating appropriate space for the ‘Community Centers,’ which provide the resources for reentry planning (e.g., computers, printers, county-specific binders on housing, employment, education, and so forth). The Rutgers Center brought in the resources and worked with a crew of residents to paint and create the two Community Centers. This modeling of “can do, will do” behavior and attitude had a positive impact on participants and the staff.
Finally, in the first week of the Seeking Safety implementation, it was observed that the women were having a difficult time managing all the handouts and getting the big picture of the intervention. In response, we collected the materials and made integrated binders with tabs for each topic handout, added an orienting handout that described responsibilities and the goals of Seeking Safety, and created a laminated poster of the three steps for every session: Check In (to discuss any outstanding questions), Topic Handout (discussion on the week’s topic), and Check Out (to discuss any remaining questions).
How have you worked to incorporate data collection and analysis into the planning and implementation of the program?
We have collected qualitative and quantitative data throughout the process of implementation. Subjects are initially screened for eligibility and those who are eligible and consent to participate are interviewed seven times over the twelve months, which includes a three-month follow-up in the community. Each interview lasts 60 to 90 minutes and focuses on outcomes related to self-esteem, self-efficacy, coping, health and wellness, reentry readiness, problem behaviors, including infractions, new charges or convictions, and substance use. All of these conversations and any modifications are documented. A formal implementation evaluation is scheduled to assess the mental health, social services, administrative, and correctional staff.
The research evaluation of Seeking Safety is an important part of your project. Can you discuss some of your “lessons learned” related to issues of informed consent and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)?
Our main lesson learned is that a minimum of four months is needed to complete the IRB consent process. The evaluation had to go through both the Rutgers IRB and the NJDOC IRB, which are coordinated and reciprocal. It takes a minimum of two months for approvals to clear Rutgers IRB and NJDOC Review Board and another two months for final approval from the Office for Human Research Protections (Department of Health and Human Services) and to obtain a Certificate of Privacy from the National Institute of Justice. It was a long process, but it is very important to protect the rights of human subjects, particularly in correctional setting.
Contact information:
Nancy Wolff, PhD
Professor
E. J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Director, Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
176 Ryders Lane
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
voice: (732) 932-6635
fax: (732) 932-1233
e-mail: nwolff@ifh.rutgers.edu
web site: www.cbhs-cjr.rutgers.edu
Some of the women participating in the program:
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