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Behavioral Health Alerts: October 2019 Newsletter: TEST
October 2019
National Initiative Updates
CCJ/COSCA Mid-West Region Summit “Improving the Court and Community Response to Mental Illness”Chief Justice David Gilbertson and State Court Administrator Greg Sattizahn will be hosting eleven of the twelve midwestern states in Deadwood, South Dakota, October 23-25, 2019. The summit combines inspirational and practical educational sessions featuring national and regional speakers with time for the state teams to plan their priorities and action plans. The CCJ/COSCA Western Region held its summit in May 2019 and Texas will host the CCJ/COSCA Southern Region Summit in May/June 2020, with the CCJ/COSCA Mid-Atlantic Region following in the fall 2020, and the CCJ/COSCA New England Region holding it summit in the spring 2021.
SJI Approves State Requests for Technical Assistance Following the CCJ/COSCA Western Region SummitUpon recommendation of the National Initiative Advisory Committee Co-Chairs Chief Justice Paul Reiber (Vermont) and State Court Administrator Milt Mack (Michigan), the State Justice Institute awarded technical assistance to plan state summits and accomplish other state priorities to five states: Alaska, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, and New Mexico. Applications can still be accepted for the western states and will be announced for the mid-west states at the upcoming CCJ/COSCA Midwest Region Summit.
NCSC Issues Press Release @ the CENTERNew National Center for State Courts (NCSC) guide helps court leaders put together teams to aid those with mental illness. Check out the announcement here and the new guide and companion website here.
Addressing Competency Evaluation and Treatment Delays Identified as one of the Priorities of the National InitiativeA group of eight trial judges from across the nation will convene October 4, 2019, in Denver, Colorado, to discuss competency evaluations, proceedings and restoration treatment, and services challenges and solutions. The work is part of a national project intended to identify best practices for reducing the number of people awaiting restoration of competency to stand trial. Judges, psychiatrists, and representatives from the state mental hospital, the national conference of state legislatures and others will meet in New York later this month. Advisory Committee members Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera (Maryland) and Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks (New York) will attend this meeting.
In the News
In California Jails are the Mental Health Centers of Last ResortAlmost one in three San Diego County jail inmates is prescribed medication to treat mental illness, making Sheriff Bill Gore one of the most prolific providers of behavioral health services in the region. It wasn’t always that way. (9/30)
Advocates Say Millions Being Wasted at Psychiatric HospitalsDisability rights advocates say that state-owned psychiatric hospitals in West Virginia are confining patients found not guilty by reason of mental illness for years after those patients are well, wasting millions that could be used reducing the need for inpatient psychiatric care in the first place. "It's a major civil rights violation for these people," said Jeremiah Underhill, legal director at Disability Rights of West Virginia, "and it's a major money drain for the whole mental health system." (9/27)
Patient to Sue Oregon State Hospital Over Admission DelayAttorneys for a current patient at the Oregon State Hospital said Wednesday that their client intends to sue, after languishing for weeks in jail while waiting to access mental health services. “Our client experienced a severe deterioration in his mental state during his long wait for transfer and treatment,” said attorney Juan Chavez, who is project director at the Oregon Justice Resource Center. (9/26)
Criminal Justice Study Group Offers Alabama a Chance to Set the Right Course Toward ReformEditorial: Alabama Arise is closely monitoring the Study Group on Criminal Justice Policy that Governor Kay Ivey appointed this summer. We hope the group can identify and endorse reforms needed to modernize Alabama’s criminal justice system. Alabama could use Medicaid expansion to provide mental health and substance use disorder treatment in communities with a chronic lack of such resources. Many convictions result from underlying mental health or substance use problems that go untreated. Stronger investments in mental health and addiction treatment could prevent many people from entering the criminal justice system in the first place. And Medicaid expansion would allow Alabama to expand mental health services tenfold with little or no increase in state cost. (9/23)
Kentucky Grapples to Close Dangerous Gap in Mental Health LawIt was an “Oh, my God!” moment for Kentucky state Sen. Danny Carroll. He said the revolving door of violent criminal cases involving 30-year-old Cane Madden is “the most blatant example” of a failure in the justice system he has ever seen. Time after time, judges have dismissed Madden’s cases in Louisville and released him back into society under a state law that prosecutors say is their worst nightmare: Someone who is incompetent to stand trial but can’t be hospitalized against his will. (9/27)
Homeless Solutions: Hospitals Paying for Housing, Jail Cells Converted to RoomsThe staff at St. Joseph Health became concerned when it kept seeing the same patients cycle through its two hospitals in northern California. It was obvious why. There was no safe place for these chronically homeless and often seriously mentally ill patients to go after they were discharged. St. Joseph’s Hospital began paying for five beds at a local clean and sober house. That soon grew to fifteen beds.
Report: New Mexico needs to boost mental health servicesA report released Monday by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's inspector general details challenges for Medicaid patients when it comes to accessing behavioral health care. The investigators, in response to a congressional request, found less than one-third of licensed providers are located in rural areas even though nearly half of Medicaid enrollees in New Mexico live outside its population centers. (9/17)
Uproar Over Arrest Increases Focus on Possible Mental Health Court in Galveston CountyOn a Saturday in August, a cellphone photograph of Donald Neely’s most recent trespassing arrest — in which two mounted Galveston police officers clipped a rope line to his handcuffs and walked him down several blocks in public view — evoked comparisons to the slavery era and drew national outrage. Neely is black, and the officers are white. The episode raised questions not just regarding the racial overtones of the photograph, but about how Galveston County handles mentally ill criminal suspects and defendants in its criminal justice system. (9/16)
Washington Governor Calls for More Oversight of Private Psychiatric HospitalsGovernor Inslee made the comments in a letter to Health Department Secretary John Wiesman this week, following an investigation by The Seattle Times. The Times found that as psychiatric hospitals have expanded in Washington state, with more than 850 new beds approved since 2012, some have repeatedly failed to meet regulatory requirements. (9/14)
Wider Use of Assisted Outpatient Treatment Could Help Individuals with Mental IllnessThis OpEd piece by DJ Jaffe, the executive director of MentalIllnessPolicy.org, responds to recent comments about violence and mental illness by President Trump, and suggests specific steps the federal government could take to appropriately address the issue, including eliminating the IMD exclusion, changing civil commitment standards, funding pending AOT pilot programs, and changing Medicaid reimbursement policies. (9/13)
Mental Health Innovation GatheringAt the Mental Health Innovation Gathering, Jeremy Kranz and Chan Chuan Chen invited a group of entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors to join together for a discussion about how to improve our failing mental health systems by developing new methods for treating mental health and building supportive communities. (9/10)
Yolo County Court Changing How Justice Is ServedCalifornia's jails and prisons are full of people with some form of mental illness. Often, they commit some sort of crime sparked by that illness, drugs or both. But one court is turning the tables on the entire system. Inside Department 14 in Woodland's Yolo County Courthouse, Judge David Rosenberg takes the bench like on any other hearing. The bailiff calls everyone to rise. The gallery sits. In this courtroom, however, the jury box is filled with participants. They're not a jury, they are "clients," people selected for their suitability to be in this courtroom. That's not the only difference. (9/9)
SMI Advisor is an online resource for individuals and families, and for clinicians and other providers. It is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and administered by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The APA works closely on this project with a team of experts from 30 other mental health organizations. This team includes individuals, families, clinical experts, peers, and policy makers.
2nd International Summit on Urgent and Emergency Mental Health Care Held in Washington, DC, on September 9-10, 2019The Summit brought together more than 65 participants from 10 countries, including policy makers, researchers, crisis innovators, individuals with lived experience, family members and community leaders. Courts were represented for the first time. Dave Byers, Arizona State Court Administrator, and Chris Wu, Principal Court Management Consultant from NCSC, participated. The goal of the Summit was the development of an international policy declaration on the standard of care for mental health crisis services. In addition to presentations on innovative crisis response models from around the globe, participants divided into five workgroups to develop the framework for the declaration:
The Why? Universal Values, rights, and principles The Who? Leadership, culture, and commitment to parity The What? Specific practices and innovations The How? Implementation and continuous improvement The Whom? Community and public health
All participants then came back together to discuss the essential elements of an international declaration. The final product is forthcoming. Link to Summit Materials
CSG Justice Center NewsletterUpcoming funding opportunities, new publications, and other news and criminal justice and behavioral health resources. (September 2019)
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Programs: A Best Practice Guide for Transforming Community Responses to Mental Health CrisesWidespread crisis intervention strategies and techniques are critical to addressing rising rates of overdoses and suicides that continue to devastate families nationwide. This guide is intended primarily to be a how-to for individuals and communities interested in starting a CIT program, providing practical suggestions, templates, and worksheets to help you work through the steps to building an effective program.
Treatment Advocacy Center's September Research Roundup details new research related to improving metabolic risk screening for individuals taking antipsychotic medications, using real-world functioning to assess treatments for schizophrenia, and more.
Screening and Assessment of Co-occurring Disorders in the Justice SystemUse of evidence-based approaches for screening and assessment is likely to result in more accurate matching of offenders to treatment services and more effective treatment and supervision outcomes. This recently updated monograph is intended as a guide for clinicians, case managers, program and systems administrators, community supervision staff, jail and prison booking and healthcare staff, law enforcement, court personnel, researchers, and others who are interested in developing and operating effective programs for justice-involved individuals who have CODs. Key systemic and clinical challenges are discussed, as well as state-of-the art approaches for conducting screening and assessment.
A PROJECT ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE THE JUSTICE SYSTEM RESPONSE TO MENTAL ILLNESS
Please share any news or resources from your state or jurisdiction with the National Initiative by emailing ptobias@ncsc.org.
