GA Accountability Courts News

NADCP is pleased to announce…

CSG Justice Center Updates Mental Health Court Website Featuring BJA Learning Sites

The Council of State Governments Justice Center has updated its mental health court website to make information on the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) learning sites more accessible. These five mental health courts, which have been serving as learning sites since being selected by BJA in June 2006, are:

• Akron Municipal Mental Health Court (OH)
• Bonneville County Mental Health Court (ID)
• Bronx County Mental Health Court (NY)
• Dougherty Superior Court (GA)
• Washoe County Mental Health Court (NV)

The learning sites host site visits, hold conference calls, and respond to e-mail inquiries from people interested in starting a mental health court or improving their current program. The learning sites also work with the Justice Center, the technical assistance provider for this program, to improve their own processes and procedures. Snapshots of each of the learning sites, along with longer program descriptions, can now be downloaded on the website to help potential visitors to select a learning site.

All of the information needed to set up a visit is also accessible on the site. Interested parties can consult the site visit calendar, which lists some of the dates that are available for visits, and can download a visit request form and submit it to Lauren Almquist (almquist@csg.org or fax: 212-383-5743). The Justice Center has created a site visit observation tool to guide jurisdictions through their visits, as well as an evaluation form to report on the visits’ usefulness.

The Justice Center’s mental health court website also houses other resources, such as the BJA mental health court publications, links to relevant media articles and research, and a link to the Justice Center’s mental health court survey. The Justice Center encourages court personnel to complete a survey so that their programs may be profiled in the Justice Center’s Criminal Justice / Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet), a comprehensive database that inventories programs, research, and media. Click here for more information on the InfoNet.

To view the Justice Center’s mental health court webpage, visit http://consensusproject.org/mhcp.