Strategic Planning for a Pre-Adjudication Mental Health Court

Bluebonnet Trails Community MHMR Center

Overview

Jurisdiction Level

State

Jurisdiction Type

Rural

Age Level

Adult

Description

Bluebonnet Trails Mental Health Mental Retardation (MHMR) Center and the 155th Judicial District Court will use the FY 2009 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Planning funds to build consensus about the development of a pre-adjudication mental health docket that utilizes telemedicine. Both are emerging as best practices across the country and in the State of Texas. A structured consensus building process called Interest-Based Negotiation (IBN) will be used to design the plan. Interest-Based Negotiation (IBN) is a process in which an impartial third party uses a combination of facilitation, mediation and organizational development methods to assist in constructive resolution problems. The value of this process is that it allows entities with widely varied interests to balance and evaluate those interests to arrive at agreed upon solutions to mutual problems.