Consensus Project September Newsletter
Spotlight on JMHCP: Beaver County, Pa. (Planning)
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). Justice Center staff members ask 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 Beaver County, Pennsylvania, a 2009 Planning grantee.
Brief Background on the Jurisdiction
David D’Amora Named as New Justice Center Criminal Justice/Mental Health Project Director
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center is pleased to announce that David D'Amora joined the organization on September 16, 2010, as the director of the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project.
Excerpts from Consensus Project’s New Online Discussion Forum Tool
Last month, the Justice Center launched a new online discussion forum, where policymakers and practitioners from across the country can exchange ideas, ask questions of each other and national experts, offer comments and suggestions, and network around their collaborative criminal justice/mental health initiatives. The forum, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Justice Programs, U. S. Department of Justice, can be accessed here.
Take a look at what’s currently being discussed on the forum:
Question: "How can law enforcement agencies in rural areas better improve their response to people with mental illnesses?"
Response: "Sometimes it requires some creativity to implement CIT in rural areas. Many rural areas may be under the auspices of different law enforcement agencies. In Connecticut, some of our rural areas have towns with small police departments while neighboring areas may be under the jurisdiction of the State Police.
"The local mental health authority can partner with several agencies at a time in rural areas. It may be more difficult to identify drop off centers in large rural areas, but the local mental health authority overseeing those areas can partner with police to create a response that helps the person with mental illness receive the services they need. It may require bringing a person to a hospital and notifying the mental health authority to follow up so the person doesn’t fall through the cracks of our fractured mental health system. In most cases a simple call to the local mental health authority can set the wheels in motion to provide immediate and long term services to the person without hospitalization..."
To read more of this thread or post a response, click here.
To start your own discussion, click here.
New GAINS Center Publication Available: Getting Inside the Black Box: Understanding How Jail Diversion Works
On January 14, 2010, the CMHS National GAINS Center convened a diverse group of researchers, policymakers, and jail diversion practitioners to assess what conclusion could be derived from the Targeted Capacity Expansion (TCE) Jail Diversion cross-site evaluation project data. The results of the national evaluation are featured in this publication.
October 4, 2010, Webinar: Family Engagement in Reentry for Justice-Involved Youth
The National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC) and the Center for the Advancement of Mentoring will host a two-part webinar on engaging family members in reentry efforts and identifying pro-social support for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Speakers for the first webinar will provide a framework for a family-focused approach and a glimpse at its application in two settings: 1) the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (addressing family engagement in its juvenile justice facilities and within parole) and 2) a New York-based program (working with families in the community and offering home-based services for court-involved youth). For more information, please click here.
New Justice Center Publication Available on October 7, 2010: Information Sharing in Criminal Justice-Mental Health Collaborations: Working with HIPAA and Other Privacy Laws
Understanding the legal framework of information sharing is the crucial first step for jurisdictions seeking to design and implement effective criminal justice-mental health collaborations. This guide supports that first step by introducing how federal and state laws are likely to influence practitioners’ responses. To understand how federal law shapes what is permissible at the state or local level, practitioners should understand the legal framework of the basic privacy rules for “protected health information” under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and substance abuse treatment information under 42 CFR Part 2, a portion of the Code of Federal Regulations addressing public health.
Justice Center and the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Publication, Responding to a High-Profile, Tragic Incident Involving a Person with a Serious Mental Illness: A Toolkit for State Mental Health Commissioners
This toolkit combines practical tips, supported by relevant research, to manage tragedies involving a person with a history or current diagnosis of serious mental illness. Designed for mental health commissioners and anyone involved in the mental health system, policymakers, law enforcement, and emergency responders, A particular emphasis is placed on what the research shows about the perceived link between mental illness and violence. An extensive literature review and fact sheets identify the factors (such as substance abuse) that are associated with violence and support suggested talking points.