Mississippi Department of Corrections SOARs at East Mississippi Correctional Facility August 13, 2018 | SAMHSA's GAINS Center In January 2018, as part of the response to recent legislation in Mississippi, House Bill 585, which mandates that the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) provide benefits assistance to individuals preparing to be released from incarceration, MDOC applied for and received the SAMHSA SOAR Technical Assistance grant offered to criminal justice agencies. On May 31,… Read More
Spotlight on Peers Working in Criminal Justice Settings: MISSION-CJ August 13, 2018 | | SAMHSA's GAINS Center By Ayorkor Gaba, David Smelson, Debra A. Pinals, Kelsey Clary, & Idella Sanders-Jones Joe* smiles ear to ear as he receives his graduation certificate from his treatment court team, which includes his MISSION Peer Support Specialist and Case Manager. He humbly explains to the group in attendance that this was his first time graduating anything… Read More
Grand Lake Mental Health Center’s Use of Mobile Technology to Increase Access August 13, 2018 | SAMHSA's GAINS Center By Josh Cantwell, LCSW, PRSS, Clinical Director of Special Programs, Grand Lake Mental Health Center, Inc. In 2015, over 1,100 of the people served at Grand Lake Mental Health Center (GLMHC) were admitted to the hospital for psychiatric services. Many of these episodes involved a law enforcement officer waiting in the emergency room (ER) instead… Read More
PRA Receives Silver-Level Recognition in AHA’s Workplace Health Achievement Index August 9, 2018 | | Rocco Farano For the third year in a row, Policy Research Associates, Inc. has been recognized by the American Heart Association (AHA) in its annual Workplace Health Achievement Index. By embedding a culture of health and wellness in the office, PRA was able to surpass its previous bronze-level awards to achieve silver-level recognition this year! New in… Read More
Spotlight on Peers Working in Criminal Justice Settings: Lakeesha Dumas July 17, 2018 | | SAMHSA's GAINS Center By Lakeesha Dumas from Portland, Oregon This article is part of a GAINS Center spotlight series on peer support specialists working in criminal justice settings. My journey to recovery started almost 7 years ago. I had been in jails and institutions in a few states. I was in a dark place of desperation with no… Read More
The Most Carefully Studied, Yet Least Understood, Terms in the Criminal Justice Lexicon: Risk, Need, and Responsivity July 17, 2018 | Announcements | SAMHSA's GAINS Center By Douglas B. Marlowe, JD, PhD, National Association of Drug Court Professionals No program or intervention can be expected to work for everyone. Providing too much or the wrong kind of services not only fails to improve outcomes, but it can make outcomes worse by placing excessive burdens on some participants and interfering with their… Read More
Facing Racial Inequity while Experiencing Mental Illness and a Substance Use Disorder: What Changed? June 19, 2018 | | SAMHSA's GAINS Center This article is part of a GAINS Center series on promoting race equity in behavioral health and justice outcomes. Read Part 5 here. By Kristie Puckett Williams, M.A. from Charlotte, North Carolina An estimated one in three adults in the United States has a criminal record (U.S. Department of Justice, 2012). I am one of those… Read More
Community SOAR Initiative Success: CJS is SOARing! June 19, 2018 | | Dazara Ware, SAMHSA's GAINS Center About Mecklenburg County’s Criminal Justice Services SOAR Initiative By Dazara Ware, MPC, SAMHSA SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery Technical Assistance Center Getting Started with SOAR In 2017, Mecklenburg County Criminal Justice Services (CJS) in North Carolina was awarded technical assistance through the SAMHSA SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) Technical Assistance Center. SOAR is a… Read More
Four Sites Selected for Law Enforcement and Community: Crisis Intervention Training Model Program May 30, 2018 | | Colette Scott Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA) has selected four sites to participate in the Crisis Intervention Training Model Project. Selection was made after a competitive application process managed by PRA. The Crisis Intervention Training Model project is part of a larger program within the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement Officers and Ensuring… Read More
Oregon’s Newest Anti-Racial Profiling Law Reclassifies Some Drug Crimes May 16, 2018 | Announcements | SAMHSA's GAINS Center This article is part of a GAINS Center series on promoting race equity in behavioral health and justice outcomes. Read Part 4 here. By Alice Chasan In Oregon, as elsewhere in the country, the disproportionate involvement of people of color in the criminal justice system has remained a serious civil rights and public health concern. Civil… Read More
Innovations in Identifying People who Frequently Use Criminal Justice and Healthcare Systems May 16, 2018 | Announcements | SAMHSA's GAINS Center By Robert Sullivan, Director, Johnson County’s Department of Corrections Leveraging a University Partnership In May 2016, Johnson County partnered with the University of Chicago’s Data Science for Social Good (DSSG) Fellowship to develop a predictive analytics model that would promote intergovernmental opportunities for cross-system cooperation and coordination while increasing our ability to proactively connect individuals… Read More
Common Ground: Unusual Suspects & Unlikely Friendships April 16, 2018 | Announcements | SAMHSA's GAINS Center By Tamra Oman, Human Resources Program Coordinator and Recovery Support Specialist, Wisconsin Resource Center Tamra Oman, Human Resources Program Coordinator and Recovery Support Specialist at the Wisconsin Resource Center, shared her reflections on her participation in the Peer Support in Criminal Justice Settings Curriculum Development Workshop. In this Workshop, attendees were tasked with developing… Read More
