(Long Island, NY) The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) selected EAC Network’s NYC Mental Health Diversion Program as one of four peer-to-peer learning sites as part of the National Criminal Justice/Mental Health Collaboration Learning Sites Program.
The 2015-2016 Mental Health Court Collaboration Learning Sites were selected by the CSG Justice Center and the BJA as examples of successful collaborations between the criminal justice and mental health systems that provide a range of effective responses to people with mental illnesses who are involved with the criminal justice system. These four sites have shown an ability to provide guidance to other jurisdictions interested in starting or expanding collaborations between criminal justice and mental health systems, as well as a commitment to advancing the field.
In particular, EAC Network’s NYC Mental Health Diversion Program is a singular model of Clinically Informed Judicial Supervision for pre-trial and pre-sentenced defendants with mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders, brought to scale across four boroughs of New York City, and implemented as both centralized (i.e. Mental Health Court) and de-centralized (i.e. throughout the courthouse). Also a CSG/BJA Learning Site, EAC Network’s Bronx Mental Health Court has enjoyed collaborating with jurisdictions across the country and overseas. The expanded program will provide visitors with the chance to learn a clinical approach to diversion decision-making, the challenges and opportunities of implementation of the system in different jurisdictions, the advantages and disadvantages of centralized and de-centralized diversion, and the potential for making the most of all of the above through a single administrative and clinical structure.
Criminal Justice/Mental Health Collaboration Learning Sites work with the CSG Justice Center and BJA to share their expertise with other agencies across the country. The 2015-2016 learning sites will, for example, host jurisdictions interested in learning more about their programs, answer questions from the field through phone, email, and online training sessions and work with the CSG Justice Center to develop resources that help advance the field.
In addition to EAC Network’s NYC Mental Health Diversion Program, the three other 2015-2016 Criminal Justice/Mental Health Collaboration Learning Sites are:
- Bonneville County (ID) Mental Health Court
- Dougherty County (GA) Superior Court Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division
- Ramsey County (MN) Mental Health Court
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said, “For more than two decades, my office has supported EAC/NYC TASC in diverting non-violent, drug-addicted and mentally ill individuals from the criminal justice system and assisting them in seeking treatment as an alternative to incarceration. NYC TASC has been among the leaders in the field of alternative sentencing services for many years and I am pleased that the Council of State Governments selected them as a National Learning Site.”
For more information on EAC Network, a not-for-profit human service agency serving over 68,500 individuals across Long Island and New York City through 70 programs that protect at-risk children, support senior citizens, help people with mental health and substance abuse problems, educate people seeking financial independence, assist individuals who are under or unemployed, mediate disputes, and work with families in crisis, visit www.eac-network.org.
For more information on the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Collaboration Learning Sites Program, a collaboration between the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a division of the Office of Justice Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice, please visit www.csgjusticecenter.org/mental-health/learning-sites.
