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Developing a Mental Health Court: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum

“The goal of this project is to make existing research and practices accessible while encouraging learners to ask the right questions at the right times and develop productive collaborations and programs that serve the needs of their communities. While the curriculum is presented as a comprehensive resource on how to plan and implement a mental health court, it is also designed to be easily adapted to supplement existing trainings, for new mental health court team members, or as a tune-up for teams that are already in operation. What’s more, the curriculum’s introductory lessons on criminal justice and behavioral health present information that is relevant to any type of collaboration between these two disciplines.” Modules following introductions to behavioral health and criminal justice are: understanding mental health courts; your community, your mental health court; the mental health court team; target population; designing policies and procedures for program participation; case planning; facilitating the success of mental health court participants; and launching and sustaining your program.