Collaboration Assessment Tool

There is a common denominator among jurisdictions that have launched successful initiatives to address the needs of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system: some meaningful collaboration between at least one component of the criminal justice system and one component of the mental health system precedes the development and implementation of the initiative. The worksheets below are intended to help criminal justice and mental health organizations assess their existing level of collaboration; questions apply to the organizations’ specific collaborative activities and initiatives. With this goal in mind, these worksheets should be completed by both criminal justice and mental health representatives and their answers should represent a consensus.

The worksheets are organized according to four assessment categories:

• Knowledge Base
• System Collaboration
• Service Coordination
• Resources

How to fill out the worksheets

To answer questions within each category, download the files below and identify where your jurisdiction’s collaborative efforts fall along a continuum of four response options. You should answer these questions with the current status of your initiative in mind, not your future plans.

Words and phrases in red are defined in the glossary in the order they appear in each section.