treatment instead of incarceration for the mentally ill offender.
 

What is a Mental Health  Court?
What Do They Do?

The Mental Health Court works to increase effective cooperation between the mental health treatment system and the criminal justice system.  Misdemeanor defendants with mental illnesses have a single point of contact with the court system and work with a dedicated team including judge, prosecutor, defender, treatment court liaison, and probation officers.  For the mentally ill misdemeanant population the goal is to achieve faster case processing time, improved access to public mental health treatment services, improved well-being, and reduced recidivism. For the larger community the goal is improved public safety.

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King County District Court--Mental Health Court: A division of King County Government.

Municipal Court of Seattle--Mental Health Court: A division of Seattle City Government

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Seattle King County Mental Health Court
Outcome Report

An outcome report released February 17, 2004, demonstrates the impressive impact of the King County Mental Health Court, located in Seattle, Washington.  Highlights included a 76 percent reduction in offenses committed and a 90 percent reduction in jail days for program participants, as compared with the year prior to their involvement in the court. King County's court, which launched in February 1999, is one of the longest running mental health courts in the country.

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The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the Federal agency charged with improving the quality and availability of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services in order to reduce illness, death, disability, and cost to society resulting from substance abuse and mental illnesses.

The Criminal Justice / Mental Health Consensus Project is a national effort coordinated by the Council of State Governments (CSG) to help local, state, and federal policymakers and criminal justice and mental health professionals improve the response to people with mental illness who become involved in, or are at risk of involvement in, the criminal justice system.

Why are so many people with serious mental illnesses homeless?
" People with serious mental illnesses are over-represented among the homeless population. While only four percent of the U.S. population has a serious mental illness, five to six times as many people who are homeless (20-25%) have serious mental illnesses." [National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness]

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Mental Health Around the Puget Sound Washington

             

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Search WWW Search CounselingSeattle.com

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