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In Focus: Conducting a Comprehensive Process Analysis is a new brief from the Stepping Up partners that presents counties with steps for examining how people who have serious mental illnesses (SMI) move through a county’s criminal justice and behavioral health systems. A process analysis can help counties determine appropriate pathways for people with SMI, identify what resources exist across systems for this population, and determine how much relevant data is available and where more data is needed to track Stepping Up’s four key measures. Read More

Since the launch of Stepping Up in 2015, more than 475 counties in 43 states have passed a resolution or proclamation to join the initiative and commit to creating a data-driven, systems-level plan to reduce the prevalence of mental illness in their jails and improve outcomes for people with mental illnesses in their communities. In 2018, dozens of counties participated in the Stepping Up Day of Action to highlight the important work happening in their communities. But there’s much more work to be done. Throughout 2019, the Stepping Up partners are asking counties to “Step Up” their efforts by completing the Stepping Up County Self-Assessment to identify a priority goal for this year (learn more here). Read More

Stepping Up is hosting a national Day of Action on May 16, 2018. During this Day of Action, counties are encouraged to host an event or participate in local activities to share with constituents the progress they have made in addressing the prevalence of people with mental illnesses in their jails, raise public awareness and understanding of this important issue and emphasize their commitment to creating data-driven, systems-level changes to policy and practice to reduce the number of people with mental illness in their jail. Read More

The Tulsa County board of commissioners passed a resolution to join the national Stepping Up initiative to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in its jail in 2015. As part of these efforts, county leaders realized that understanding and integrating the perspectives of people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders, especially those who have been involved in the justice system and/or experienced homelessness, would be beneficial to include in planning processes for the county. Through creative partnerships and the inclusion of peers in the planning stages, Tulsa County created programs and services to better meet the needs of its most vulnerable residents. Read More

In 2015, the Alamance County board of commissioners passed a resolution to join the national Stepping Up initiative to guide its efforts to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jail. As part of their Stepping Up efforts, county leaders established a mission statement, created two part-time coordinator positions and formed a task force, a leadership team and several associated committees to develop a strategic plan that included messaging around what efforts are taking place locally to address connections to services for people with mental illness involved in the justice system. Read More

Join the National Association of Counties (NACo) and your peers for a one-and-a-half-day peer exchange on county behavioral health and criminal justice issues, hosted in Polk County (Des Moines), Iowa. This event will bring together county leaders from across the country to visit Polk County and learn about its efforts to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in the jail through the Stepping Up initiative and beyond. Participants will also engage in discussions about how to implement change in their own counties. Please see the draft agenda below. Read More

This guide provides key talking points for county leaders to use when discussing their Stepping Up efforts. Read More

More than 400 counties have joined the national Stepping Up initiative to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails. Although counties have made progress in addressing this issue, many still struggle to effectively communicate these efforts to the public and the media. During this workshop, county leaders will learn about strategies for engaging the public and media around reducing the number of people with mental illnesses in jails and key messaging points to gain support for these efforts. Read More

The goal of this publication is to provide rural county leaders with ideas and strategies for addressing these challenges by providing examples of counties that have successfully done so or are making progress. There is no one strategy that will work for all counties, or all rural counties. But county leaders are encouraged to learn from each other’s experiences and adapt their peers’ policies, practices and programs to fit the needs of their county and residents. Read More