Archive

Mental health professionals are available to respond to calls, either on the scene or as a follow up, at the request of law enforcement officers. These professionals can then begin the assessment process, provide acute on-site crisis stabilization, and facilitate connections to needed care and services. Some teams may also… Read More

Community-based service providers–including mental health providers, substance addiction treatment providers, housing services, and probation and parole agencies–work with the jail to connect with people while they are in custody. This helps to ensure a “warm hand-off” to service providers upon release. Read More

Having agreed-upon vision, mission, and goals statements for a county’s criminal justice, behavioral health, and racial equity initiatives ensures that stakeholders have a shared language to use. Counties are encouraged to adapt the local examples to their jurisdiction’s needs and stakeholder expectations.  … Read More

Monitoring the completion of short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals is important, as it may take years to demonstrate measurable changes in the Stepping Up four key measures or other metrics of interest to county planning teams. Showing evidence of more immediate accomplishments, such as the implementation of new procedures, policies,… Read More

Data warehouses provide accurate, accessible data across multiple sources including law enforcement, jails, community-based providers, community supervision agencies, and other agencies to improve decision-making about supporting people with frequent justice and behavioral health system contact. Read More

Strategic plans or business plans are important for making the case for prioritizing funding, policy, and practice improvements. If necessary, the plan identifies the need for additional personnel; increased capacity for mental health and substance use treatment services and support services, such as housing and employment; and infrastructure improvements,… Read More

Data dashboards compile information on key indicators such as the Stepping Up four key measures; housing and homelessness measures; etc. Data dashboards provide an easily accessible snapshot of statistics so that counties can track their progress over time and identify potential areas for improvement. Read More

Contracts with jail medical providers are important for facilitating the screening and assessment process for serious mental illness (SMI) at the jail. These contracts can also ensure that data on SMI are provided to the jail to support the jail’s data collection efforts related to Stepping Up. … Read More

People who have opioid addictions receive MAT in the jail and are connected to MAT in the community upon release. MAT can help reduce the cravings people have to use opioids again and treat the brain changes that are caused by opioid addiction. There are three Food and Drug Administration-approved… Read More