Archive

Across the country, county criminal justice, behavioral health, and social service system leaders are grappling with reducing the number of people with serious mental illness (SMI) in criminal justice systems, including county jails, often by using “front-end” strategies. Counties frequently struggle with using data to gauge the impact of these strategies on reducing the number of people with SMI in jails. One challenge for obtaining baseline data on SMI in jails centers on contracted private medical providers and their role in collecting and sharing data on SMI. This virtual discussion equips participants with knowledge about the role contracted medical providers have in either screening for SMI, assessing for SMI, or both; collecting and sharing data with jail administration and how contracts can support this process; and best practices for screening, assessment, and collecting and sharing data for contracts with third-party medical providers. Read More

Counties across the country have made progress addressing the Stepping Up Four Key Measures. Yet counties often struggle with Key Measure 3: post-release connections to care for people who have a serious mental illness (SMI). This measure necessarily involves a handoff from the county jail system to the community-based behavioral health system, with implications for data collection and treatment initiation. This webinar features representatives from the Stepping Up initiative and Johnson County, Kansas, who will discuss the importance of tracking data on this key measure and how counties can set up systems to track this data accurately. Read More

The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) and The Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG Justice Center) announce the opening of the Kansas Stepping Up Technical Assistance Center (TA Center) to help counties reduce the prevalence of people with serious mental illness in jails. The TA Center—only the second of its kind in the nation—will offer technical assistance tailored specifically to Kansas counties to support policies and programs improving outcomes for people with mental illnesses and co-occurring substance use disorders in jails. Reinforced by support from the national Stepping Up initiative, this effort will be directly informed by local needs and guided by a leadership team of state and local representatives. This webinar introduced the TA Center and provided an overview of resources available to counties. The webinar also discussed how counties can sign up to be part of the TA Center and how they can get started on or advance the work of Stepping Up in their counties with support from the TA Center. Read More

As telehealth expands, communities across the country are looking for information on how best to facilitate connections to care for people with serious mental illnesses being discharged from jail. During COVID-19, telehealth or telemedicine has become an essential practice for connecting people with mental illnesses from jails to psychiatric treatment and other services. For more information, please watch our recent webinar hosted by the Stepping Up partners on increasing connections to care with telehealth and other strategies. Read More

COVID-19 is pushing communities to rethink their approach jails. For many, telehealth or telemedicine has become an essential practice for connecting people with mental illnesses from jails to treatment. Read More

The Stepping Up initiative encourages counties to track data along Four Key Measures, including connecting people who have serious mental illness (SMI) to treatment and other services after discharge from jail. Communities across the country are looking for information on how to best facilitate connection to care for individuals with SMI. With the current expansion of telehealth, there is a need to discuss best approaches, other ways to connect to care, and to share tips and strategies from counties. Join the Stepping Up partners for a webinar focused on one this key measure: Increase Connection to Care. Read More

This webinar introduced Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) specialists to the Stepping Up initiative and gave an overview for how VJO specialists can play a role in connecting veterans who have serious mental illness to treatment and support services after release from jail Read More

Jails across the country are struggling with too many people with mental illnesses in their jails. In this workshop, hear from county leaders about their policies, practices and programs to keep people with mental illnesses out of jails, provide appropriate care to those who are in jails and better connect them to community-based treatment and services after release. Read More

The Stepping Up Four Key Measures Case Studies serve as a quick reference to the strategies highlighted in this series and share suggested sub-measures associated with each of these measures to help counties better collect and analyze their data. Read More