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In the Friday morning opening session, Dr. Fred Osher of the Justice Center provided a brief introduction to Pamela Hyde, Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Ms. Hyde gave an overview of SAMHSA's role as a federal partner agency in collaborative criminal justice/mental health work, and touched upon how SAMHSA is working to help local jurisdictions maximize available health care resources.

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In this plenary session, Mr. Eisenberg examined the role of data in decision making for elected officials, program administrators and program recipients. Mr. Eisenberg provided practical recommendations for how best to collect, analyze and present data in a criminal justice/mental health program.

Handout (.zip)

To develop and implement effective responses to people with mental illnesses, law enforcement agencies must collect and analyze data to answer basic questions about these encounters (e.g., frequency, typical dispositions, time spent per call) and the impact of program activities on ameliorating identified problems (e.g., unsafe encounters, strains on scarce resources, poor access to mental health services). Although a few communities collect some data to inform their own program development, most find it difficult to capture the information needed to develop more generalizable data for other initiatives. This presentation focused on exploring some of these challenges and providing examples of some jurisdictions' creative solutions.

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Process and outcome evaluations can provide team members critical insights for improving a program as well as describing the program's strengths to promote sustainability. This session provided practical strategies for program managers on collecting data and identifying and working with evaluators. Mr. Barbee moderated a discussion between Mr. Butkiewicz, whose program has recently completed an outcome evaluation conducted by a local researcher, and Dr. Callahan, who is currently working on a MacArthur Foundation comparative study of four mental health courts.

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This session provided basic information for jurisdictions looking to standardize their data collection and analysis efforts. Mr. Eisenberg provided an overview of the essentials of data collection, and Ms. Usher provided information about her first-hand experience starting a data collection and analysis effort, and how she has used the data to illustrate program effectiveness. The remainder of the session was open for questions from the audience. Participants left with a basic understanding of data collection and cost-benefit analysis, and learned what this looks like in the real world.

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The justice and mental health systems and members of the community all have differing viewpoints of "good" outcomes for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. This session explored differing interpretations of "good" outcomes, and different strategies for achieving and measuring these outcomes.

This session provided graduates from mental health courts the chance to describe their experiences from a first-hand perspective. Speakers described how their experience with the mental health court differed from previous encounters with the criminal justice system, identified the aspects of court supervision that they found helpful, and discussed areas that they would suggest doing differently. These graduates then responded to questions from the audience.

This workshop focused on some of the common challenges and opportunities that practitioners face when trying to effectively communicate with policymakers. Practical advice and real-world scenarios were discussed, along with suggested methods for more effectively sharing information and engaging policymakers at both state and national levels.

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This session highlighted how to identify and measure appropriate outcomes from a strategic planning process. An overview was presented of how to define "outcomes" generally, and what that means in a criminal justice/mental health collaborative. Presenters then identified what "outcomes" mean specifically for a planning process, as they can be substantially different from traditional criminal justice and mental health programmatic measures. The panelists used their own experiences to provide examples of successful measures that have charted intermediate successes along the way, and set the stage for successful implementation.

This session discussed in-depth the process by which jurisdictions may map out the route that individuals flow through the criminal justice system. Mr. Abreu introduced relevant work done by Policy Research Associates, Inc. Dr. Griffin presented on how the Pennsylvania Mental Health and Justice Center of Excellence—in which process experts are working to map out a different county each month. This session provided both the theoretical processes behind systems mapping, as well as examples of practical applications in the field.

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The data that a mental health court collect can inform not only program operations, but also program design and sustainability. By integrating data collection and program evaluation into project planning, jurisdictions can not only learn more about what works in their program, but also make the case for sustainability. Albany, Georgia, used part of its Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program grant to build a data collection and evaluation capacity. Judge Goss discussed why and how his team worked with Dr. Baldwin and his colleagues to build a web-based data collection tool and commissioned an evaluation of the Dougherty County Mental Health Court.

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This session provided an overview of the challenges in identifying and securing sustainable funding for programs serving youth involved or at risk of involvement with the justice system. Key considerations on how to create a successful transition from time-limited grant funding to alternative funding were discussed, including options for minimizing sustainability barriers, available funding sources, and models of cross-agency sustainability planning.

This session focused on some typical mistakes made in responding to justice-involved people with mental illness. The presenters discussed some lessons learned from past mistakes in systems responses, developing collaborations, the lack and misuse of research, need for fidelity to program models, and the misalignment of individuals to programming and of staff to clients. The audience was asked to share lessons they have learned and how it has informed change in their planning and day-to-day practices.

Tim Murray, Executive Director of the Pretrial Justice Institute, gave the closing remarks to the participants of the 2011 JMHCP training and technical assistance event.