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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

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

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

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

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

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

An extensive data analysis coupled with over 50 in-person interviews with stakeholders in Salt Lake County’s justice and behavioral health systems led to the identification of key recommendations improve outcomes for people involved with the county’s criminal justice system, particular those with behavioral health disorders. Read More

Across the country, people in many jurisdictions who frequently encounter criminal justice, behavioral health, and social service systems are experiencing behavioral health crises and require different levels and intensities of services. This three-part series features three Stepping Up Innovator Counties that are also MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge sites. Representatives from these sites provide information on how to effectively serve and increase engagement with people who frequently cycle in and out of jails, emergency departments, homeless shelters, and other community-based settings. This session provides an overview of engagement challenges in service and treatment and strategies for how to work through them at both at the individual and systems levels. Read More