The Yolo County Mental Health Court team has published its outcome report for fiscal year 2019-20, showing significant reductions in arrests, jail bed days and hospital bed days among Mental Health Court participants.
Mental Health Court is a minimum 18-month, court-based treatment and monitoring system for adult offenders with a serious mental illness. Mental Health Court is designed to increase the treatment engagement of the participants while reducing arrests, hospitalizations and jail time during and after their involvement and participation in the program.
The program is a collaborative effort among the Probation Department, Health and Human Services Agency, Yolo Superior Court, Public Defender and District Attorney. Mental Health Court follows the Forensic Assertive Community Treatment model where participants get intense 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 training and school, and physical health. The goal is to address the criminogenic factors and reduce recidivism. When participants are close to graduation, they join in a Restorative Justice conference.
Of the 86 individuals assessed during 2019-20, 29 were enrolled in one of the collaborative courts. Nine of those who didn’t enroll did not qualify because they didn’t suffer from a serious mental illness, or they chose not to enroll.
For those who enrolled, when comparing the 12 months prior to starting Mental Health Court to the 12 months afterward, there was a 69 percent decrease in arrests, a 48 percent decrease in jail bed days, a 100 percent decrease in local hospital bed days, and a 100 percent decrease in state hospital bed days.
“These numbers are astounding,” said Gary Sandy, chairman of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors Gary Sandy. “This shows how dedicated this team is, particularly those providing the services, treatment and supervision. It also shows the hard work being done by the participants.”
Currently, there are 14 participants in Mental Health Court. The team is currently implementing a grant of $747,280 from the Federal Bureau of Justice Assistance that will double the program from 15 to 30 participants. Funds will support hiring staff to provide services to these additional participants.
The Health and Human Services Agency will add a clinician and a peer support worker, and the Probation Department has already added a probation officer to supervise participants. This grant proposal was prepared through a collaborative team coordinated by the District Attorney’s Office, which will be the grant administrator.
Additionally, the team received a $1.1 million grant from the Department of State Hospitals to divert some individuals who are deemed incompetent to stand trial or are at risk for being incompetent to stand trial. This will allow the team to treat these individuals within the county and avoid sending them to a state hospital.
The District Attorney’s Office coordinated the drafting and submission of this grant and will also administer it. This grant will fund the following Health and Human Services Agency staff: a forensic team clinician, a forensic team case manager II, a peer support worker and a forensic team supervising clinician (10 percent).
