A 37-year-old West Sacramento woman graduated last week from Mental Health Court in Yolo Superior Court.
Subrina Seaton was arrested in a robbery case three years ago by the West Sacramento Police Department. At the time, she was homeless and had an extensive rap sheet dating back to when she was a juvenile.
Mental Health Court is a minimum 18-month, court-based treatment and monitoring system for adult offenders with a serious mental illness. It is designed to increase the treatment engagement of the participants while reducing both arrests, hospitalizations and jail time both during and after their involvement and participation in the program.
The program is a collaborative effort among the Yolo Superior Court, Probation Department, Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), Public Defender and District Attorney’s offices. MHC follows the Forensic Assertive Community Treatment model, where participants receive intensive services two hours per week or meet with staff four times per week.
The team provides participants with wrap-around treatment which includes a focus on mental health, substance abuse, housing, vocational and school skills, and physical health.
The last phase of the program is a restorative justice component where participants spend four to six weeks recounting their crime and the circumstances that led to it. The participant acknowledges who was harmed by the crime and how they were harmed. Lastly, the participant is asked what needs to be done to makes things right.
In Seaton’s case she wrote an apology letter to the victim of her crime and she put together care packages to pass out to the homeless.
Seaton is the 11th MHC participant to graduate from the program. A results-based assessment conducted during fiscal year 2017-18 showed significant accomplishments. During the 12-month period after enrolling in MHC, participants had a 96 percent decrease in jail bed stays, a 100 percent decrease in local hospital bed stays, and a 100 percent decrease in state hospital bed stays.
In order to serve more individuals, the team now is working on obtaining additional funding through the county, grants and Mental Health Services Act funding.
During Tuesday’s graduation ceremony, team members shared their thoughts while addressing Seaton and the court. Judge David Rosenberg, who presides over Mental Health Court, congratulated Seaton and told her fellow participants, “this is where we want all of you to be in the future.”
“You have so many qualities that will be left with the team. You have amazing patience, you are calm and show such grace,” HHSA Clinical Supervisor Kristi Abbott told Seaton. “Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. But you started to impress us from the beginning in the way you handled it. The person you are today is almost unrecognizable from the person you were before.”
Added Supervising Deputy District Attorney Chris Bulkeley: “I have had a tough day, but seeing that smile on your face makes all those feelings go away. Congratulations!”
Deputy Public Defender Bret Bandley: “We’ve been together since February, 2018. Then you were quiet, suspicious, shy, withdrawn and rarely smiled. Now I never see you not smiling.”
HHSA Forensic Case Worker Terri Lipelt: “When I picked you up from the jail and dropped you off at residential treatment in Sacramento on a Friday I didn’t think you still be there on Monday. But you were still there and now you have your children back, your life back, and your own apartment.”
Two previous MHC graduates, Dennis Cortopassi and Jessie Tessler, also took turns at the microphone.
“I know how much work goes into graduation,” Cortopassi said. “You should be proud of yourself. If you ever get in trouble again, this team is here to help you.”
Added Tessler, who also works with the MHC team as a peer support worker: “To see you get your own place and furnish it is such a blessing. Your story is now just beginning.”
Seaton, meanwhile, thanked the team for giving her a second chance. “Thank you for letting me know I had a mental illness. At first I thought it was a joke. I made it and I’m proud of myself,” she said.
Judge Rosenberg then presented Seaton with a graduation diploma and gave her a hug. Everyone then ate cake and pizza, including a German chocolate bundt cake that Rosenberg baked.