Implementation of the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts' Response to Mental Illness Report and Recommendations
The Task Force made a number of important findings with corresponding recommendations supported by over 100 resources for courts and our partner stakeholders. Each Behavioral Health Alerts revisits an original Task Force resource or a new resource that supports a Task Force recommendation.
Collaborative Court and Community Diversion for Individuals with Behavioral Health Needs The ultimate goal of behavioral health diversion is to divert individuals with behavioral health needs from the criminal justice system by identifying who can be diverted to treatment both before and after involvement in the justice system and what treatment and level of treatment can be provided to address individual needs to prevent deeper penetration into the justice system, all toward the goal of supporting recovery, ensuring public safety, and decreasing recidivism. A model behavioral health continuum of diversion will ensure that diversion alternatives are available and the alternatives meet the needs of the individual, community, and justice system.
Task Force Recommendations Implementation - Resources and News
Psychiatric Advanced Directives: A New Mental Health Crisis Tool Psychiatric Advanced Directives, commonly referred to as PADs, are legal documents that allow persons, when mentally stable, to consent to or refuse future psychiatric treatment in advance of a crisis. PADs can serve as an important tool to empower individuals to make proactive decisions before a crisis, offering clear guidance to professionals who assist in emergencies. The increased use of PADs has the potential to reduce involuntary commitments, increase diversion opportunities from the justice system, and serve as a less restrictive alternative to guardianship.
This NCSC webinar, featuring Dr. Marvin Swartz, will provide an overview of PADs, including their uses, timing, benefits, challenges, and misconceptions. Join us on September 25th to enhance your understanding of PADs and how they can enable individuals to make their own decisions about psychiatric treatment ahead of a crisis.
Michigan SCAO Fills New Behavioral Health Administrator Position The State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) has named Kristina M. Morgan as its new Behavioral Health Administrator, effective September 30. The newly created position resulted from a suggestion by the Michigan Judicial Council Behavioral Health Workgroup with generous support from the executive and legislative branches for its funding. In this role, Morgan will serve as the Michigan Supreme Court’s (MSC) representative on improving justice system responses to the behavioral health needs of Michigan children, families, and individuals.
Fall/Winter Dates for Decriminalizing Mental Illness: The Miami Model These two-day workshops in Miami provide an opportunity to hear directly from Judge Steve Leifman and his colleagues about Miami’s innovations in crisis response, diversion, civil off-ramps, competence to stand trial alternatives, and the effective use of peers. Attendees also visit the model wraparound services facility, the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery. Most importantly, attendees learn how to engage in meaningful system change and leave with a plan to implement new strategies in their jurisdictions. The new dates: October 10-11, (dates updated from 9/1 edition), November 7-8, and December 5-6. Contact Rick Schwermer to hold a spot for your team at rschwermer@ncsc.org.
Research and Resources
Medicaid-Funded Housing Services: Opportunities for Alignment and Coordination with Housing Resources within Homeless CES Increasingly, states are adding coverage of housing-related services under Medicaid that can be coordinated with housing assistance to provide supportive housing for eligible individuals experiencing homelessness. This explanatory brief offers basic information and strategies to help Continuums of Care (CoCs) and Coordinated Entry Systems (CES) align and coordinate Medicaid-funded pre-tenancy and tenancy-sustaining services with housing assistance to help individuals achieve and maintain housing. It is intended to assist communities offer housing with appropriate services in states currently covering or planning to cover such services under Medicaid.
Office of Behavioral Health Equity – September 2024 Announcements September is Suicide Prevention Month. To support local communities, numerous Centers of Excellence have developed Suicide Prevention Resource guides. Please visit each of the websites below to learn more about these resources.
Reforming California’s Conservatorship Laws? How SB 43 Creates More Barriers to Treatment for the Gravely Disabled There is little doubt that LPS (California Mental Health Act of 1967) reform is needed; however, severe substance use disorder and the hearsay exception must be removed from SB 43 to ensure that reform works. The California Legislature must approach LPS reform in a manner that respects due process rights. It is also crucial that SB 43 addresses the heart of grave disability—anosognosia—as its symptoms are the basis for many conservatorships in the first place. Moreover, a lack treatment resources have left providers with little recourse to help gravely disabled patients, other than sending them back out onto the streets. California can do better. SB 43 should be amended with provisions to help gravely disabled people get the services they need, while still giving full effect to their rights.
Analysis of the Mental Health Parity Final Rule On September 9, 2024, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury issued the regulation, “Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act,” updating the 2013 regulation implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008. Throughout the final rule, each new provision finalized is closely tied to specific statutory provisions. In several instances, the Departments changed their approach from the proposed rule to more closely follow relevant statutes. This is likely designed to signal close compliance with the recent Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright overturning Chevron deference.
Solicitation for Applications: SAMHSA’s GAINS Center Seeks Communities, Agencies, and Organizations to Develop Trauma-Informed Training Capacity The GAINS Center is offering a series of Train-the-Trainer (TTT) events to teach local trainers to deliver its “How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses” curriculum. The target audiences for this training are community-based adult criminal justice system professionals, including reentry staff, drug court personnel, community corrections officers (probation, parole, and pretrial services), and law enforcement officers (including local Crisis Intervention Team trainers), and mental health and substance use disorder treatment service providers and peers who work with justice-involved adult populations.
Apply Now for Sequential Intercept Model Mapping Workshops SAMHSA’s GAINS Center is currently soliciting applications from communities interested in Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) Mapping Workshops. SIM Mapping Workshops are designed to bring together a local, cross-system, multidisciplinary group from a particular jurisdiction (typically a county) to facilitate collaboration and to identify and discuss ways in which barriers between the criminal justice and behavioral health systems can be reduced through the development of integrated local strategic action plans. SIM Mapping Workshop participants are expected to be drawn, in large part, from local criminal justice and behavioral health agencies and organizations.
Overlooked: Stories of Mental Illness & the Criminal Justice System NAMI believes that people with mental illness deserve help, not handcuffs. They oppose the continued criminalization of mental illness and work to ensure every person is met with a response that preserves their health, well-being and dignity. Their work is driven by the stories they hear every day throughout the NAMI Alliance — stories from people with mental illness and family members about their experiences with the criminal justice system. People are met with handcuffs instead of help and treatment. People reenter the community without the tools and support to thrive and be well. These are only a small snapshot of the shared experiences that connect people’s individual stories. While mental health advocates know this reality, far too many people in the U.S. do not. But people and their stories cannot — and should not — be overlooked anymore.
September TAC Webinar: Foundations of E-IMR Join the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) Thursday, September 19 at 3 p.m. EDT for Foundations of E-IMR. Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) is an evidence-based practice that helps people with severe mental illness (SMI) learn to manage their illness and achieve their recovery goals. Enhanced Illness Management and Recovery (E-IMR) is an augmented version of IMR that incorporates Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) principles. This enhancement is designed to more effectively support individuals experiencing both mental illness and substance use disorders (SUD). E-IMR can be used by all levels of practitioner, including AOT providers.
Linkage Facilitation Across the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network Join this webinar on September 19 at 12 p.m. ET to delve into various linkage facilitation efforts that the JCOIN Clinical Research Centers (Research Hubs) are utilizing. Speakers will summarize their unique approaches, discuss challenges and outcomes, and highlight successful strategies. They will also review a conceptual framework for linkage facilitation and provide a brief overview of preliminary results from a linkage facilitation checklist used to measure activities across sites, which help identify and categorize key components of effective approaches.
Emerging Challenges in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders: Q&A with Dr. Mark Gold Join the Addiction Policy Forum on October 16th at 1 pm ET for an engaging webinar with Dr. Mark Gold, M.D., a renowned expert in addiction and psychiatry. Dr. Gold will explore emerging challenges in treating substance use disorders, sharing insights from his recent publications. Topics will include the role of exercise in recovery, the impact of genetic inheritance on substance use disorders, medications for opioid use disorder, and new findings on treating tobacco addiction.
NASMHPD Update Monthly newsletter with news and resources from the National Association of Mental Health Program Administrators.
CSG Justice Briefing New Hampshire tackles overincarceration; 988 numbers; Supporting better mental health access; Observing National Suicide Prevention Week; and more.
In the News
Lawsuit Challenging Armed Police Response to Mental Health Emergencies in Washington, D.C. to Proceed The ruling against the District’s motion to dismiss comes after a federal judge in a similar case in Oregon recognized that sending police to a mental health crisis can be discriminatory. “Relying on mental health professionals, not armed police, to serve people experiencing mental health crises is not just logical, it’s required under the law. Today’s decision made clear that communities can’t single out mental health emergencies for worse services than other health emergencies,” said Michael Perloff, staff attorney with the ACLU of the District of Columbia.
Oklahoma Federal Judge Questions Legality of Piloting Out-patient Mental Competency Treatments The lawsuit alleges the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is violating the rights of mostly indigent defendants declared incompetent to stand trial and being held in county jails. The suit alleges the state is failing to provide timely court-ordered competency restoration treatment to defendants, who in some cases, had been waiting for many months while their criminal cases remained on hold. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell said Friday in an order that the proposed settlement contained a provision not authorized by law. He wrote that state law does not allow for a community-based restoration treatment pilot program, permitting competency restoration services to be provided outside of physical confinement.
Supreme Court’s Chevron Decision Threatens Decades of Progress in Access to Mental Health Care The ruling, which limits federal agencies' power to interpret ambiguous laws, now leaves crucial legislation like the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act vulnerable to court challenges, potentially unraveling years of hard-won progress.
Santa Clara County Courts Redirect Mental Health Cases County officials on Monday launched a pilot program with a separate court calendar that could fast-track defendants for mental health treatment as early as their arraignment hearing. This program could reduce the time people sit in jail as they await guilty plea outcomes before options such as jail diversion or Mental Health Treatment Court become available. If a defendant meets the criteria at an arraignment hearing, the person has a behavioral health screening in jail then proceeds to another hearing where the court will work out a plan to bring them earlier access to mental health services or release them from jail into a treatment program. Those could range from inpatient crisis residential programs with wraparound care, to referrals for therapists or outpatient therapy groups.
Social Services Instead of Handcuffs: Delaware County Wants Intervention, Not Incarceration, for People Struggling with Mental Health Issues The Delaware County Department of Human Services wants to jumpstart a countywide program to divert people with mental health issues away from the legal system and into treatment. The program would give police officers the discretion to refer people with behavioral conditions to a case manager in lieu of arrest. “The goal of the program is to connect individuals to treatment and to keep them out of the criminal justice system as much as possible — and to make sure that we have the support and process in place to do that,” Councilmember Dr. Monica Taylor told WHYY News.
Antrim County Prioritizes Mental Health in $25 Million Public Safety Center Proposal Antrim County is seeking $25.5 million for a new public safety center, an upgrade that law enforcement officials and mental health professionals say is much needed. The project would also include facilities for community members or inmates experiencing mental health episodes, along with resources for substance abuse recovery. “The mental health aspect and the ability to provide some substance [use] treatment to inmates, which hopefully will reduce recidivism, all using metric-based programs — we have high hopes for that,” Koch said.
Wellbeing
Promoting Well-Being in the Workplace Substantial research shows that investments in employee wellbeing benefit both individuals and organizations. Mental Health Colorado has developed this Workplace Well-Being Toolkit for better supporting health and wellbeing and reducing harm from substance use, including practical steps organizations and co-workers can take to contribute to a healthful work environment.
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Please contact Rick Schwermer.
