Mental Health

Across the country, communities are struggling to address the high number of people with mental health needs cycling through the criminal justice system each year. In many communities, correctional facilities provide more treatment for people with mental illnesses than community-based mental health providers do. Our team works with states and local communities to improve responses for people with mental health needs in the criminal justice system.

Key Staff


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Director, Behavioral Health
Dr. Ayesha Delany-Brumsey oversees the Behavioral Health Division and its various portfolios, which focus on how parts of the criminal justice system intersect with the mental health, substance addiction, and homelessness systems, among others. Before joining the organization, Ayesha was
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most recently the director of Behavioral Health Research and Programming at the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice in New York City. Prior to that, she was the director of the Substance Use and Mental Health program at the Vera Institute. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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    Deputy Division Director, Behavioral Health
    Risë Haneberg serves as Deputy Division Director, Behavioral Health Division, for the Council of State Governments Justice Center.  In this role Risë leads the Stepping Up Initiative, the national effort to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in
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    the justice system with partners National Association of Counties (NACo) and the American Psychiatric Foundation (APAF).  Additionally, Risë provides oversight to county systems improvement projects and technical assistance to Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) grantee sites. Before joining the CSG Justice Center, Risë served as the criminal justice coordinator for Johnson County, Kansas, from 2008 to 2014. Risë previously served as the chief court service officer in Johnson County and began her career in criminal justice as a juvenile probation officer in 1979. Risë holds a BS in criminal justice from Wichita State University and an MA in public administration from the University of Kansas. 
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    Interim Director, Behavioral Health
    Hallie Fader-Towe works with local and state policymakers to craft policies, processes, and programs that bring research-informed approaches to their jurisdictions. In her positions with the CSG Justice Center, she has worked with jurisdictions around the country on collaborative, data-driven
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    planning and implementation efforts to address criminal justice functions from initial detention through reentry, including a focus on people with mental illnesses. She has also managed the development of training materials on mental health courts and on judicial responses to the prevalence of individuals with mental illnesses involved with the criminal justice system. She has written on court case processing, competency to stand trial, dispute systems design for state trial courts, pretrial responses to people with mental illnesses, information sharing between criminal justice and mental health systems, and mental health court design and implementation. Before joining the CSG Justice Center, she was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in New York. Hallie received a BA from Brown University and a JD from Harvard Law School. 
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