This 3-hour program, originally broadcast July 15, 2009, provides an overview of opportunities that can help your organization prepare to work with persons suffering from mental illness in jails. Mental health issues in the criminal justice system are a community wide problem, and corrections stakeholders, including government officials and corrections personnel, all have a role in identifying creative programs and solutions that tackle the problem at its core. This broadcast investigates the scope of the problem and propose creative solutions from model programs across the nation that you can implement in your own communities.
The objectives of this program are to: identify the stakeholders who need to be involved in designing a successful mental health treatment program; understand the risks and liabilities that not adequately addressing the needs of persons suffering from mental illness poses to the local criminal justice system and the surrounding community; identify collaborative strategies for overcoming system failures in treating persons suffering from mental illness in local communities and along the criminal justice continuum; and implement strategies to leverage existing resources and develop a collaborative action plan involving all stakeholders.
The vignettes and PowerPoint presentation used during this program are included.