Resilience and Recovery: Creating Opportunity for Healing in the Court System
July 16, 2021
NAMI Chicago is delighted to announce the publishing of our newest policy brief, entitled Resilience and Recovery: Creating Opportunity for Healing in the Court System.
For decades, mental health advocates have been fighting nation-wide to reduce reliance on the criminal court system for people living with mental health conditions. As community mental health treatment has become more scarce, there have been less and less options for care for people who are living with significant mental health needs and require treatment to manage their symptoms and avoid psychiatric crises. They have instead had increased interactions with police, jails, prisons and state-operated hospitals.
Change is possible. It will require innovation and investment in community-based options for mental health treatment, diverting from the court system, and addressing the recovery needs of people living with mental health conditions.
As advocates and policymakers work to build this community capacity, we must also reform and rethink how individuals living with mental health conditions receive treatment and support as they continue to cycle in and out of jails, and sometimes land within the state’s psychiatric hospital system or prisons. Many stakeholders within these environments are already leading strong reform efforts. We must deliberately and urgently push forward so that people who are treated within jails, state hospitals, and prisons are able later to thrive outside of these systems.
NAMI Chicago’s policy brief makes several recommendations that seek to reform the approach to mental health needs within the criminal court system and state operated forensic system related to:
Refocusing the forensic mental health system from punishment to recovery.
Training court stakeholders on the importance of mental health to increase the likelihood of diversion at the earliest possible point.
Improving system transparency and accountability through data collection, analysis, and policy development.
To partner with us or inquire about this work, please contact Jen McGowan-Tomke, NAMI Chicago COO, at jen@namichicago.org. For more information about NAMI Chicago’s policy and advocacy work, visit namichicago.org/policy.