Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 29, 2005

CONTACT: Jana Scoville
(404) 508-7875

DeKalb County Receives Grant for
Criminal Justice/Mental Health/Substance Abuse Training

DECATUR, Georgia - When a person with a mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders is released from jail, finding community-based resources and treatment immediately is crucial. DeKalb County behavioral health providers and the criminal justice system have identified the need to work together to help close the gap on re-entry challenges for these individuals.

In the fall of 2004, Janice Robbins, Director of Criminal Justice Services for the DeKalb Community Service Board (CSB), and Melissa Manrow, Special Projects Coordinator for the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, first heard about a technical assistance cross training grant offered through the National Institute of Mental Health and Policy Research Council. To make the project a community collaboration, they coordinated with Judge Winston Bethel, DeKalb County Chief Magistrate, to pursue the funding.
Out of 52 applicants, DeKalb County was one of nine counties chosen nationwide to receive this grant. The funds provided the county's community leaders a day of training held at the DeKalb Addiction Clinic on June 8, 2005 that was titled "Action Steps to Community Change: A Cross Training for Criminal Justice/Mental Health/Substance Abuse Systems." Decision makers, frontline staff and advocates across the county gathered to talk about gaps in the system, prioritize major issues and develop a collaborative action plan. A taskforce was developed to help lead the action plan.

"DeKalb County has already made significant strides in establishing and maintaining a Diversion Treatment Court. In their application, they identified the need to build on existing successes to expand post release linkages to treatment for people with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders," explained David Wertheimer, who facilitated the training. "The largest gap in DeKalb County is in post release treatment linkages for individuals not served by the Diversion Treatment Court. DeKalb County has proved it can make change happen. Continuing the change process was exciting - that helped them make the cut."

The DeKalb County Diversion Treatment Court (DTC) that Wertheimer referred to focuses on the decriminalization of the mentally ill by diverting those with serious mental illness (and often co-occurring substance abuse disorders) from jail into linkages with community-based treatment and support services. The individual thus spends a significantly reduced time period in jail and more time in treatment. Successful completion of this judicially supervised treatment results in dismissal of criminal charges. DTC operates through a collaborative effort of the DeKalb Magistrate Court, Adult Probation, DeKalb CSB, Jail Mental Health Services, National Alliance of the Mentally Ill, Office of the District Attorney, Office of the Sheriff, Office of the Solicitor, Pretrial Services, Recorder's Court, State Court, Superior Court and Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.

"The success with the participants of the Diversion Treatment Court has been incredible. Participants are surrounded by a team of individuals who look for strengths versus weakness and assist the participant in becoming successful and completing the program. It is impressive that approximately 50% of those who do not successfully complete Diversion Treatment Court still follow through with DeKalb CSB services - which is the ultimate goal," said Janice Robbins. "This taskforce has the potential to eliminate the "cracks" in the system by forging partnerships and initiatives that provide immediate access information when DeKalb CSB consumers are incarcerated. This notification will allow case management staff within the DeKalb CSB to work with Diversion Treatment Court and other criminal justice programs to develop creative re-entry plans for each consumer. The timing is right!"

The DeKalb CSB, a public corporation and an instrumentality of the State of Georgia, provides mental health, developmental disabilities and addictive diseases services. To access services, please call the agency's 24-hour line at (404) 892-4646 for assessments, scheduling appointments, referrals, and crisis calls.

###