January 2011 e-newsletter
FEATURES
The CSG Justice Center, with assistance from a team of national experts and the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), has selected six police departments to act as national law enforcement/mental health learning sites—agencies that will help other jurisdictions across the country improve their responses to people with mental illnesses. Selected were the Houston (TX) Police Department, Los Angeles (CA) Police Department, Madison (WI) Police Department, Portland (ME) Police Department, Salt Lake City (UT) Police Department, and University of Florida Police Department.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapeutic approach that emphasizes the impact of how we think and feel on what we do. CBT programs are frequently offered in correctional settings and by community-based providers who work with justice-involved populations. The programs target criminal thinking and criminogenic risk factors in a way that promotes improved behavior and decision making. The Consensus Project recently hosted a webinar on CBT.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Applying for a JMHCP grant is a highly competitive process. To help prospective applicants prepare an application, the Consensus Project has developed a resource guide that includes links to helpful data collection tools, grant-writing tutorials, and examples of applications from previous grantees.
The Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion of Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities has issued a call for presenters and poster presentations for its upcoming "Second International Research Conference on Community Inclusion." The conference will be held in Philadelphia from September 19 to 21, 2011, and submissions are due by January 31, 2011.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE / MENTAL HEALTH IN THE NEWS
12/12/10 — "Curry County Health & Human Services' Director Jan Kaplan made an observation during a Commissioners meeting on Monday, November 29, that is a considerable step forward in giving the Sheriff's Department more latitude in the treatment of mentally ill criminal offenders."
12/13/10 — "The new Veterans' Court in Queens will take defendants whose low-level misdemeanors may have resulted from mental or substance abuse problems arising from military service and steer them to treatment programs."
12/13/10 — "The Edinburg Center in Waltham in partnership with the Arlington Police Department has been awarded a two-year grant of $82,500 from the state Department of Mental Health to support a newly developed mental health program in Arlington."
12/14/10 — "Aiding those with a mental illness can be a demanding task, but those who do so with Indiana's prison inmates have a notably burdensome charge."
12/16/10 — The article spotlights the Lee's Summit Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team and their work with a local nonprofit agency that provides mental health and substance abuse services to those in need.
12/22/10 — "More than 70 children received gifts yesterday during an event that 'puts a face on' Boone County's alternative sentencing programs, said Associate Circuit Judge Christine Carpenter."
1/1/11 — "The new jail diversion program for veterans and others suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder aims to set people, particularly soldiers, on the path to recovery while holding them accountable for their crimes."
1/1/11 — "District Judge Brian Gary presides over TEAM Court, Grayson County's newest of three specialty courts. The acronym is both a description of the court's goals and its program components: Transition, Education, Alter and Mentor."
1/2/11 — Polaris is the Canton Municipal Court's diversion program for defendants with mental-health issues. Canton's judges hope it will decrease jail usage, improve the quality of the participants' lives, and keep them from ending up back in the criminal justice system.
1/2/11 — "After years of being resistant to the notion, Champaign County's judiciary is ready to launch a mental health court."
1/2/11 — "Much like his Baptist minister father and multiple ordained family members, Virginia's new corrections chief Harold Clarke sees what he does as a ministry. Clarke's congregation, however, is made up of some of Virginia's most hardened criminals and repeat offenders."
