Gaining Tools from the GAINS Center

Good news Minnesota–we’re not alone.

States around the nation are also struggling to stop the cycles of mental health crises, incarceration, and homelessness.

At the GAINS Center 2006 conference,System Transformation at the Intersection of Criminal Justice and Mental Illness, many of the conversations this past week started with census information, and academic research in their geographic areas. They often ended with the program staff talking about how they need more housing, more employment, and more money for services.

But we also heard a variety of similar themes, and creative, surprisingly common-sense approaches to difficult and common problems. Here are the most common themes that were presented:

• Involve all the stakeholders. Whether it is a mental health court, a rural diversion program, or a reentry program the importance of having the stakeholders involved is essential. People who have experienced the issue can play a huge role in being a part of the solution. Other groups include the downtown business council, the governor, judges, probation staff, and faith based organizations. In Los Angeles County, the Case Assessment Management Program (CAMP) partners with the Police Department and the Mental Health Center to provide case management to people who were high users of emergency response programs as a result of their mental illness.
• Build trust and rapport with clients, staff, organization and institutions. We can design a plethora of programs, but until the clients we work with are engaged to move forward and see their own strength, things may continue to fail. Many programs are hiring “peer support workers” (someone who’s been in prison before) to help the client transition back into society. A man from TASC Jail Diversion Program in the Bronx, New York, was hired as a peer support worker. An ex-offender himself, he enjoys helping other guys get back on their feet and breaking old patterns. For the first time in his 40 years, he is paying taxes –- something he never thought he would do.
• Individualize services. Many of the most successful programs not only tailored their services to fit the person, but also their sanctions. Many diversion and specialty court models such as drug and mental health courts punish non-compliant clients with jail sentences. One rural program in Maine tailored their sanctions so that a non-compliant client who was a poor writer was assigned essays as his sanction.

The GAINS Center and the TAPA Center for Jail Diversion offers a wide variety of free publications covering the topics of reentry planning, specialty courts, diversion programs, co-occurring disorders, screening and a variety of other areas.