Topic: Diversion

Last Updated January 28, 2022

Background & Approach

West Texas Centers (WTC) is a community mental health center located in Big Spring, Texas. Since its inception in 1997, WTC has provided mental health services for individuals in 23 counties covering an area of 25,000 square miles.

West Texas Centers is committed to working with local governments to decrease the population of people with mental illness in our jails.

There has been much progress so far in this effort by the implementation of our Mental Health Deputy program and our Community Mental Health Grant: Jail Caseworker program. These two programs are unique in that our mental health staff have partnered up with local Sheriff’s departments and are integrated into each other’s systems. The staff in these programs are able to be the intercepts between Mental Health and Criminal Justice.

However there are still many challenges with not having a place to divert people with mental illness away from the jails.

West Texas Centers recognizes the lack of resources in our rural communities. This challenge has created our drive to work harder with local partners and continue our quarterly Jail Diversion Committees. Our Jail Diversion Committee includes; local Sheriff’s, Jail leadership, Parole/Probation, West Texas Centers mental health and IDD key staff, Hospital representatives, local County Judges, people with lived experience (Peers), State hospital representative and VA representative. Our strategies while working with the IMPACT Network sites are to implement new programs within the intercept model to divert people with mental illness from the jails. By learning from others in the network, we can create something that fits our smaller communities.

Specifically having more specialized court dockets with training for the judges on mental health and SUD issues. West Texas Centers also would like to work with local partners to design and implement a diversion center for law enforcement to utilize when they only have one choice; the jails.

Last Updated January 28, 2022

Background & Approach

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is collaborating with 13 local mental health authorities (LMHAs) to support community-based solutions for expanding or strengthening mental health crisis response and jail diversion. These 13 LMHAs serve North and West Texas and participate in All Texas Access as the North Texas State Hospital Regional Group and Big Spring State Hospital Regional Group, respectively. These regional groups of LMHAs work together to strengthen mental health care access and services in rural areas, providing access when and where it is needed, with the goal of reducing mental health crises that result in emergency room use, incarceration, transportation to mental health facilities, and other costs to local government. Texas is particularly interested in further strengthening partnerships between the behavioral health and the criminal justice systems in rural communities, since 70 percent of Texas is rural.

HHSC will support each LMHA in identifying at least one crisis response or jail diversion strategy that would work most effectively in their community. HHSC is particularly interested in law enforcement drop off or diversion centers, integration of behavioral health crisis staff in 911 dispatch centers, and the use of technology to support crisis services in Texas’ most remote areas. These strategies would complement services already offered by each LMHA, including 24/7 crisis hotlines and mobile crisis outreach teams. Participation in IMPACT also contributes towards HHSC’s implementation of Texas’s new strategic plan, Well and Safe: the Texas Strategic Plan for Diversion, Community Integration, and Forensic Services.

Last Updated January 28, 2022

Background & Approach

With over 3 million people and 34 cities, Orange County California is the sixth most-populated county in the United States and is more populous than 21 U.S. states. Our jurisdiction’s interagency planning group, the Orange County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (OCCJCC), has focused much of its work to date at Intercepts 3-5, including enhanced in-custody mental health and substance use treatment services, a coordinated reentry process, and a screening and referral system to connect probationers to the newly opened (March 2021) Behavioral Health Services Campus, BeWell OC.

We are hoping to initiate further reform at Intercepts 1-2 through a joint effort led by the District Attorney’s Office as the connection point to each of Orange County’s police departments. Our plan is to start a pilot program with the selected jurisdictions and police departments, building outcome and evaluation data that then can be used as justification to request further resources for countywide expansion.

Last Updated January 28, 2022

Background & Approach

Eau Claire County’s primary challenges, among many, will be aligning mental health services upfront in real time to include government and community support to this approach.

We will focus on key community and system partners who need to be engaged in sequential intercept mapping to identify gaps, set goals, and determine strategies to reach those goals. Once this is done, we need to build diversion options such as specialty crisis facilities with the focus on diverting away from jail or the criminal justice system and refocus towards community solutions.

Last Updated January 28, 2022

Background & Approach

As part of the Impact Network, San Juan County is committed to addressing the lack of resources available to Law Enforcement when officers are called to handle individuals in a mental health crisis. Currently, the hospital is the only place where the immediate need can be addressed. Unfortunately, far too often these individuals are released and later arrested with criminal charges, resulting in detention stays.

San Juan County plans to work closely with community stakeholders to create a Sequential Intercept Model that will identify the gaps in services available to individuals with mental health issues. In addition to the gaps, the county is interested in identifying the services that are available to treat mental health issues and how these services can best be utilized to provide care and treatment to those individuals needing assistance. As part of development of the SIM, the county plans to identify a system for data collection that will assist stakeholders in tracking the needs in the county as well as the ability to use that information to apply for funding for a Mental Health Drop In Center.