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More than 420 counties have joined the national Stepping Up initiative to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in their jails. Although counties have made progress toward addressing this issue, many still struggle with how to effectively communicate about their work with the public and the media. During this webinar, county leaders earn from national experts and their peers about strategies for engaging the public and media around Stepping Up efforts, including key messaging points and how to engage individuals with mental illnesses and their families to gain support for these efforts. Participants also receive an update about the national Stepping Up Day of Action on May 16 and how to get involved in hosting their own local events. Read More

This webinar provided counties with strategies for how they can track their progress on addressing the four key measures in their communities Read More

Middlesex County, Mass., is a large and diverse county encompassing 54 different cities and towns of various sizes. Throughout these jurisdictions, leaders were seeing similar trends in opioid-related crimes and fatalities and increasing law enforcement contact with people with co-occurring mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The Middlesex Sheriff’s Office was seeing the impact on its jail population. In 2016, the county adopted a regional approach to combat these issues by establishing partnerships between the sheriff and chiefs of police from police departments within the county. As of June 2017, 21 of the 54 police departments within the county had joined the Data-Driven Justice initiative and assigned a staff person to work collaboratively to address these issues. Read More

In 2010, the Coconino County Board of Supervisors requested a recidivism study on people being released from the county jail. This request kicked off the county’s efforts to better collect, share, analyze and use data among county stakeholders and move to a culture of collaboration between partners to generate the best outcomes for individuals involved with the criminal justice system. Read More

Fairfax County, Va., launched its Diversion First initiative in 2015 to offer alternatives to incarceration for people with mental illnesses and/or developmental disabilities who come into contact with the criminal justice system for low-level offenses. The initiative began with an initial 40-person stakeholder group that has expanded to more than 180 members who meet quarterly as a whole and participate in various work groups on issues such as data and evaluation, communications, Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training and more. Through every step of the initiative, the leadership and stakeholders’ groups communicate to the community about the work being done and the potential impact of these efforts to gain and maintain public support and trust. Read More

Johnson County, Iowa, has been working on jail diversion since 2005 and has seen dramatic reductions in its jail population due to the foundation leaders created through the Crim­inal Justice Coordinating Committee (CJCC) and other efforts. Johnson County’s CJCC engages county and city leadership from law enforcement, behavioral health and the courts, as well as state leadership to help drive changes. One way leaders have continued the momentum and changed the community dialogue around these issues is by using data to help tell the story of the individuals they are trying to help and the potential impact of making changes to policies and programs. Read More

This webinar provided counties with strategies for how they can prioritize policy, practice, and funding improvements to address the needs of people with mental illness in the justice system Read More

This webinar provided counties with strategies for how they can conduct comprehensive process analyses of their justice, behavioral health, housing, and social service systems to identify whether service needs are being met and to identify gaps in services Read More

The National Association of Counties and its partners at the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation hosted a live video panel discussion commemorating two years of Stepping Up: A National Initiative to Reduce the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jails. Panelists discuss the progress their counties have made as part of the initiative and the continuing challenges and barriers they face to eliminating the use of jails as a response to people experiencing mental health crises. Read More