The Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Justice Mental Health Collaboration Program is designed to improve outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), mental illness, or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse who come into contact with the justice system. Part of that involves Police-Mental Health Collaboration (PMHC) programs. BJA created a PMHC toolkit to provide resources for law enforcement agencies looking to partner with their communities to create an effective PMHC program. BJA has also partnered with The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, who has developed several tools and programs dedicated to improving justice outcomes for individuals with I/DD, mental illness, or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse. The CSG Justice Center’s resources are listed below:
- PMHC Self-Assessment Tool: This tool helps agencies self-assess their current progress in implementing effective community partnerships.
- Center for Justice and Mental Health Partnerships and the Law Enforcement-Mental Health Collaboration Support Center: These centers offer training and support to states, localities, and federally recognized tribal governments, and organizations such as non-profit behavioral health organizations, criminal justice agencies, and service providers.
- Law Enforcement-Mental Health Learning Sites: These 10 sites, selected by the CSG Justice Center with assistance from BJA and a team of national experts, are centers of peer-to-peer learning and support. These centers implement a diverse set of programs and perspectives and provide technical assistance to help jurisdictions tailor their own programs to fit their needs and capacity.
Mental Health Court (MHC) Learning Sites: Through the CSG Justice Center, BJA selected four MHCs to be learning sites that work with CSG and BJA to improve their own programs while providing assistance to other jurisdictions looking to implement MHCs. The CSG Justice Center also provides resources related to MHCs.