Background & Approach
Together with neighboring Douglas County, Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare, and Omaha Police Department, Sarpy County is part of a Criminal Justice-Mental Health Information Sharing Initiative that works to build a data sharing platform to improve the outcome for individuals in a mental crisis. The platform connects people to care, in an effort to reduce the number of individuals with mental illness in their local jails. Sarpy County has been recognized as a Stepping Up Innovator County due to its strong implementation of jail data collection and sharing through a jail population review team. They have also built ongoing cross-system collaboration through an active Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. At the re-entry stage, the jail’s specialized transition planning team identifies individuals with serious mental illness and high needs, then connects them to case management and a reentry plan prior to release to the community. In 2021, Sarpy County established the state’s first mental health Wellness Court. Through the IMPACT Network, Sarpy County focuses heavily on initial detention and court hearings, as well as pretrial incarceration, implementing pretrial risk assessment and release practices for individuals with mental health needs. Sarpy County and Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare are developing a crisis stabilization program to build a more robust set of diversion options.