Turning One-Off Programs into Systems-Wide Behavioral Health Diversion

Hosted by The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)

A growing number of communities are implementing behavioral health diversion programs as alternatives to conventional criminal justice case processing and incarceration. However, these alternatives have often largely been kept to individual, or one-off, recognizable programs that may be insufficient for meeting the needs of that community. They also, sometimes, do not actually reduce the over-representation of people with behavioral health needs in the criminal justice system because they are not implemented with an understanding of the needs and gaps of the community.

This webinar describes key components to developing a systems-wide diversion strategy. It focuses on the fundamental agencies within the criminal justice system that can lead the implementation of diversion interventions, with the goal of diverting people with behavioral health needs from the justice system and into community-based treatment and support services. The webinar also features speakers from Fulton County, GA, who describe diversion interventions implemented in Fulton County and the city of Atlanta.

Speakers:

• Kristin Stoycheff Schillig, Court Support Manager II, Office of the Court Administrator, Atlanta Judicial Circuit, Superior Court of Fulton County
• Moki Macias, Executive Director, Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion Initiative
• Reinette Arnold, Community Collaborator, Behavioral Health Link
• Sheila Tillman, Senior Policy Analyst, CSG Justice Center

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash