Progress reports  

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, and evidence-based practices, contributes to the momentum and commitment necessary to ensure that this is a permanent initiative. Tracking outcome data also gives the planning team the justification necessary to secure continuation funding or additional implementation funding. 

Philadelphia County, PA

• The Stepping Up supervisor and the Stepping Up Coordinator within the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disability Services (DBHIDS) prepare Stepping Up data presentations.
• The data presentations are in PowerPoint and include the following:
  (1) Stepping Up quarterly data and racial and ethnic disparities metrics;
  (2) Highlights of noticeable trends;
  (3) Hypotheses for those trends, if available;
  (4) DBHIDS programs that address each metric;
  (5) DBHIDS next steps for understanding and improving the metrics; and
  (6) Ways criminal justice partners can help improve the metrics.
• The Stepping Up data presentations occur quarterly with internal DBHIDS leadership and during Criminal Justice Advisory Board Behavioral Health Committee meetings.

Hillsdale County, MI

• A cross-systems report is generated to track progress related to the goals of identifying, diverting, and treating people with behavioral health needs within the community’s criminal justice system.
• The partnership between the Hillsdale County Sheriff Office and LifeWays Community Mental Health maintains an innovative system for sharing, integrating, and analyzing cross-systems data to measure progress related to these goals.
• Summarized within the report are the results of analysis based on this integrated data, centered primarily on four Stepping Up measures: (1) the prevalence of mental illness at booking; (2) the length of stay in jail for people with mental illnesses; (3) connections to treatment services for this population; and (4) recidivism for this population.

For more information on this example, contact LifeWays Community Mental Health, Alexis Shapiro, alexis.shapiro@lifewaysmi.org.