Faith-Based Organizations

CSG Justice Center staff conducted a virtual law enforcement learning site visit for grantee to the University of Florida PD on May 13th, 2021. UFPD provided an overview of their site and how they cross-collaborate with BH to provide services to people on their campus with various behavioral health needs. UFPD highlighted how they have worked to strengthen cross-collaborative and interdisciplinary relationships and investing in ongoing training opportunities. The goals of the site visit were as follows: 

A virtual launch event with a panel discussion in partnership with BJA and the University of Cincinnati to announce a conference that will take place in October. Taking the Call: A National Conference Exploring Innovative Community Responder Models is examining how communities across the U.S. are launching new responses to emergency calls and redefining who answers calls for service involving MH or substance use crises, homelessness, "quality-of-life" issues, and other low-level situations. Taking the Call will bring people together from across the U.S.

In this webinar, representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance and The Council of State Governments Justice Center reviewed the?FY 2021 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program | Bureau of Justice Assistance (ojp.gov)?application process.

In this webinar, representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance and The Council of State Governments Justice Center reviewed the BJA FY 21 Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health Responses Solicitation application process.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act provides resources for housing at a scale rarely seen. To deploy these resources for the Stepping Up target population (people with BH needs cycling in and out of jails), criminal justice stakeholders must act quickly to build collaborative relationships with housing partners. This webinar introduced the key ARP housing funding streams, how to strategically access them for this target population, and several collaboration-building strategies.

A growing concern across the U.S. is how jurisdictions can improve their police and community responses to people with behavioral health needs. While some jurisdictions have established partnerships between their police departments and behavioral health system counterparts, many are still struggling to effectively develop cross-system responses that can benefit the people impacted most by these systems.

An increasing number of jurisdictions are exploring ways to expand and/or improve their crisis system responses when interacting with people experiencing a mental health and/or substance use crisis. One option includes crisis stabilization units (CSUs) or similarly designed models. While CSUs are a great diversion opportunity, implementation can be very challenging. Having buy-in from referral sources, particularly law enforcement agencies, can help strengthen this critical diversion option while improving the jurisdiction's overall crisis response system.

CSG Justice Center staff hosted the Collaborate, Train, & Enage: Diverting People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) webinar. This webinar discussed best practices that localities can implement to improve cross-system collaboration, family engagement, identification, and accessibility of services that meet the needs of people with IDD. Speakers described how consistent evaluation of diversion outcomes assists with sustaining successful efforts and the creation of action plans to address gaps.

Cultural competency is vital in successfully implementing criminal justice and behavioral health programs. But even though many behavioral health and criminal justice practitioners understand that cultural competency is important, they often don't know what it means, what it entails, and/or how to achieve it.

Counties across the country have made progress addressing the Stepping Up Four Key Measures. Yet counties often struggle with Key Measure 3: post-release connections to care for people who have a serious mental illness (SMI). This measure necessarily involves a handoff from the county jail system to the community-based behavioral health system, with implications for data collection and treatment initiation.