Working with Data for Mental Health Court Practitioners, Part One: Data collection and manipulation

This webinar provides practitioners with an orientation to data collection in mental health courts and offered concrete skills for working with data in Microsoft Excel. The webinar features perspectives on collecting data from Cynthea Kimmelman, director of administrative services at the Bronx Mental Health Court (NY), one of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Mental Health Court Learning Sites. Andrew Barbee, senior research associate at the CSG Justice Center, demonstrates basic Excel features that facilitate data collection and analysis. This portion of the presentation includes step-by-step instructions on how to best use selected features in Microsoft Excel 2003 (Excel 2007 analogs will be mentioned). The webinar concludes with a question-and-answer session with Ms. Kimmelman and Mr. Barbee, as well as Hallie Fader-Towe, policy analyst, CSG Justice Center, who provided perspectives on the issue of data collection among mental health courts nationwide.