FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Terms of the Grant
Technical Assistance Opportunities
Online Resources and Other Information
Terms of the Grant
1. When did the grant term begin? Did it begin when we received notification, when we began to draw down funds, or when the revised budget was approved?
The start date of the grant is indicated by the date included in the award notification document you received in September. The start date can be found in box number 6 of the award notification document.
2. Do we have to file for an extension if our progress was delayed due to the necessity of submitting a budget revision? How do we file for an extension?
You should file for an extension if you need more than one year from the date specified in your award document to complete your work. Project period extension requests are made by submitting a grant adjustment notice in the Grant Management System. You can access information on submitting grant adjustment notices through the
BJA Guide to Grants. Questions about GMS should be directed to the GMS Help Desk at 1-800-458-0786 (press 6, and then press 3).
It is not unusual for grantees to request an extension but, before beginning this process, you should first
contact your grant manager by phone or e-mail to explain the need of filing for an extension. Your grant manager can also address any questions you have about the process. You can also contact Ruby Qazilbash, BJA, with any additional questions; Ms. Qazilbash can be reached at (202) 305-6982 or
Ruby.Qazilbash@usdoj.gov.
3. What are our reporting requirements under the grant?
Information on budget reporting requirements can be found on
OJP's Financial Resources Website. Here you will find a detailed explanation of reporting requirements under the links to "Financial Guide" and "Post Award Instructions." You must also file progress reports to BJA twice a year through OJP's Grants Management System. The reports submitted to BJA should collect the information requested in the solicitation materials, and identified as "Data Grantee Provides" in objectives 1-6. You should describe the level of success you have had around these objectives and your activities to date. The Post Award Instructions document also contains a list of frequently asked questions about these reporting requirements that may be helpful to you.
Technical Assistance Opportunities
4. Who can we call with questions or requests for assistance regarding the work of our grant?
The Council of State Governments Justice Center can support you with information, resources, and answers to your questions during the term of your grant. The Council of State Governments Justice Center has great expertise on staff, has authored numerous resources, and can assist you to find the information most helpful to you. The staff is also familiar with programs like yours across the country, and we can help connect you with colleagues so you can benefit from their experiences. If you have any questions, contact Nesa Wasarhaley at (646) 383-5738 or
nwasarhaley@csg.org.
The Council of State Governments Justice Center also coordinates its work closely with the
National GAINS Center, which provides technical assistance to grantees of the Targeted Capacity Expansion program, which the Substance Abuse and Mental Health and Services Administration administers. Justice Center staff frequently refers people requesting assistance to information and expertise available through the GAINS Center. (GAINS Center staff also avail themselves of the resources of the Justice Center.)
5. Will representatives of the Council of State Governments Justice Center be visiting our site?
The Council of State Governments Justice Center will entertain requests for on-site technical assistance from planning grantees, planning and implementation grantees and implementation and expansion grantees. For more information, contact Nancy Fishman at (646) 383-5715 or
nfishman@csg.org.
Online Resources and Other Information
General Planning
6. How can we learn more about different strategies for improving outcomes when people with mental illnesses come in contact with the criminal justice system?
At each juncture of the criminal justice process-from before arrest to after release from a correctional facility-there are steps that you can take to improve the response to people with mental illnesses in your community.
The Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project Report (Consensus Project Report) provides more than 100 recommendations, endorsed by law enforcement, judges, advocates, consumers, and corrections officials, for addressing the problem at different stages of the criminal justice process. The many different points of intervention you can consider are presented on this
flowchart of events along the criminal justice continuum from the
Consensus Project Report.
7. How can we engage additional partners in our planning effort?
One common denominator among all strategies that provide a response to this problem is their basis in collaboration between at least one criminal justice and one mental health agency.
The Consensus Project Report provides recommendations for
improving collaboration. The Council of State Governments Justice Center
Advocacy Handbook provides useful strategies for reaching out to different stakeholder agencies and groups.
8. How can we learn from the experiences of other jurisdictions, especially other communities whose demographics (e.g., large urban area or rural jurisdiction) are similar to ours?
Communities working to improve outcomes for people with mental illnesses in contact with the criminal justice system can benefit greatly from a better understanding of the experiences of colleagues from across the country.
The Criminal Justice/Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet) catalogues program surveys, media articles, and research reports; provides program contact information; and allows you to search for programs which face circumstances similar to your own. The Council of State Governments Justice Center has prepared a chart containing short descriptions of Justice and Mental Health Collaboration 2006 grantees which is available on our
web site.
9. How can we ensure that the program we develop is sustainable over time?
It is important to collect outcome data, educate your community and disseminate information about the availability of services for people with mental illness coming into contact with the criminal justice system in order to plans successfully for future sustainability.
The Consensus Project Report provides recommendations for disseminating findings and publicizing the successes of a program. You can also use
The Criminal Justice/Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet) program surveys to look for ways communities around the country have worked to sustain their programs.
Mental Health Services and Supports
10. How do we familiarize people who work in the criminal justice system with what it means to have a mental illness, how it is treated, and how the mental health system works?
The Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance publication,
Navigating the Mental Health Maze, Mental Health Services and Supports, provides a useful synopsis of mental illness and the mental health system for justice involved professionals.
11. Are there any other specialized training resources available for our community?
The Consensus Project Report provides
recommendations around training for law enforcement, courts, corrections, and mental health professionals as well as strategies for identifying and evaluating trainers and educating the community.
12. How do we determine whether the mental health services provided in our community are effective for people we are targeting through our initiative?
Programs designed to improve outcomes for people with mental illness in contact with the criminal justice system require effective and available community mental health treatments and supports. Recent research has identified mental health services that have demonstrated positive outcomes for individuals with mental illness. The National GAINS Center has developed
fact sheets and detailed discussion papers on five evidence-based practices and how they can be applied in criminal justice settings.
13. What is the most effective way to treat individuals with mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorders?
More than three-quarters of the individuals with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system have co-occurring substance use disorders, which are most effectively treated in an integrated fashion. The Council of State Governments Justice Center Judges' Leadership Institute resource,
A Judges' Primer on Mental Illness, Addictive Disorders, Co-occurring Disorders and Integrated Treatment contains a discussion of effective treatment of individuals with co-occurring use disorders.
Juveniles
14. How can we learn more about the challenges unique to serving juveniles with mental illness?
Communities that focus their efforts on the juvenile population will encounter challenges unique to this age group. The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ) maintains a comprehensive
resource kit. Other resources on
NCMHJJ's web site include training resources and guides for
screening and assessing juveniles admitted to a detention facility for mental illness.
15. What issues are unique to a mental health court for juveniles?
Juvenile and adult mental health courts share some common features, but differ in several important ways, including the types of screening instruments and treatments used, approaches taken to issues of confidentiality, and the added component of family involvement in the criminal justice process. The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ) has developed a series of resources on juvenile mental health courts, including
program descriptions and a
discussion of characteristics shared among different juvenile mental health courts.
Law Enforcement
16. How can we learn more about what we need to do to effectively plan and implement a specialized police response program?
Specialized response programs are a promising strategy for improving outcomes of police encounters with people with mental illnesses, but currently little research exists that illustrates what specifically makes these programs successful. To guide communities planning specialized programs in the absence of this research, a diverse group of law enforcement, mental health, and advocacy experts have developed consensus around the
essential elements of these programs.
17. What types of strategies have communities implemented to improve outcomes of police responses to people with mental illnesses?
Various models of specialized police responses to people with mental illnesses are emerging in communities across the country. Some police departments intensively train a cadre of officers who provide a first response to all calls in which mental illness is believed to be a factor and improve safety by using crisis de-escalation skills. Others pair law enforcement and mental health professionals to provide a second response and connect these individuals with community-based mental health services more effectively.
Two resources explore the similarities and differences among these program models. The TAPA Center monograph,
A Guide to Implementing Police-Based Diversion Programs for People with Mental Illness, describes these program models, identifies common program characteristics, details implementation steps, and offers lessons learned.
The Consensus Project Report looks generally at each of the different steps of a police encounter with a person with mental illness and offers recommendations for adapting the particular approach to your community:
request for police service,
on-scene assessment,
on-scene response,
incident documentation, and
police response evaluation.
18. What experiences have other communities had in implementing specialized police-based responses to people with mental illnesses?
In communities across the country, a growing number of law enforcement agencies have partnered with mental health and community groups to implement specialized response programs. The Council of State Governments Justice Center collects various types of information on these law enforcement programs: detailed surveys, media articles, and research, which will soon be available on the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet).
19. What resources can we draw on as we develop our curriculum guidelines and training program?
The Council of State Governments Justice Center is working with the Police Executive Research Forum to develop a core curriculum, policy brief for overcoming training challenges, and other useful training resources. These products are still in development. To learn more,
click here or contact
Matt Schwarzfeld.
Courts
20. What resources are available to help our community plan a mental health court or improve or expand upon an existing mental health court?
The Guide to Mental Health Court Design and Implementation describes different steps planners will encounter when launching a mental health court and addresses issues such as determining whether a mental health court is a good fit for a jurisdiction, screening potential court participants, and sustaining a court's operation.
The Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court builds upon the Guide by describing ten features-identified by leading experts and informed by hundreds of practitioners-critical to establishing and sustaining a mental health court. To learn more, contact Lauren Almquist.
21. What lessons can we learn from established mental health courts?
To facilitate peer-to-peer assistance among mental health courts, the Bureau of Justice Assistance has established a network of mental health court "learning sites." Coordinated by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, the
Mental Health Court Learning Sites Program positions five mental health courts to host visits and provide guests an opportunity to observe court procedures and discuss program characteristics.
22. How should we go about collecting data to determine how our mental health court is functioning?
Outcome data can be of enormous value to mental health courts in their efforts to demonstrate the initial promise of their approach and garner long-term support.
A Guide to Collecting Mental Health Court Outcome Data provides practical strategies for obtaining and analyzing data. It also identifies challenges that mental health courts often face during the data collection process and ways in which to overcome them.
23. What issues are unique to a mental health court for juveniles?
Juvenile and adult mental health courts share some common features, but differ in several important ways, including the types of screening instruments and treatments used, approaches taken to issues of confidentiality, and the added component of family involvement in the criminal justice process. The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ) has developed a series of resources on juvenile mental health courts, including
program descriptions and a
discussion of characteristics shared among different juvenile mental health courts.
Corrections
24. We are working to improve collaboration between our corrections and mental health systems. How can administrators and their staff working in each system get on the same page about ways in which their collaboration can be strengthened?
The National Institute of Corrections (NIC), a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, together with the Council of State Governments Justice Center has developed a
tool to help criminal justice and mental health organizations assess their existing level of collaboration.
25. What lessons can be learned from other states and counties where collaboration between the corrections and mental health systems has improved?
As part of its technical assistance work in this area, the Council of State Governments Justice Center has developed detailed case studies of several jurisdictions' corrections/mental health collaboration. One case study describes what leaders of the Departments of Corrections and the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services in Kansas have done together to improve the likelihood that the transition someone with a mental illness makes from prison to the community safe and successful.
Click here to download the Kansas case study. Another case study about Orange County, Florida describes the experiences of county jail staff and community providers collaborating to design post-booking diversion options.
Click here to download the Orange County, Florida case study.
26. How can we be sure that we're accurately identifying individuals with mental illnesses entering our jail or prison?
The National Institute of Justice has recently funded two groups to develop screening instruments for jails. Both instruments have psychometric properties, with low rates of false positives and false negatives that allow for the detection of individuals who warrant additional assessment for mental illnesses.
The Brief Jail Mental Health Screen, developed by Policy Research Associates, can be used as a screening instrument for both men and women.
The Correctional Mental Health Screen, developed by researchers at the University of Connecticut, provides separate instruments for men and women.
27. How do we determine whether the services we offer individuals with mental illnesses re-entering the community are effective?
The National GAINS Center has developed
fact sheets and detailed discussion papers on five evidence-based practices and how they can be applied in criminal justice settings. Three of the evidence-based practices are particularly relevant for individuals transitioning from jail or prison into the community: Assertive Community Treatment, evidence-based housing programs, and supported employment.
28. Are any resources available that recognize the challenges associated with transition planning for someone with a mental illness who is booked into jail and released back into the community just a few short days later?
The National GAINS Center has written a paper on the
APIC Model, one approach to community reentry from jails for individuals with co-occurring disorders. In addition, the case study of Orange County, Florida, described in Question 26, is a useful resource for people interested in designing a jail reentry initiative for people mental illness.
Click here to download the Orange County, Florida case study.
