BJA Mental Health Courts Program Creates Interactive Mental Health Courts Forum

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Consensus Project, technical assistance provider for BJA's Mental Health Courts Program (MHCP), have created an interactive discussion forum to identify the essential elements of a mental health court. The forum will elicit feedback from the field on what makes a mental health court successful, creating a resource for communities interested in developing or improving an existing mental health court.

Click here to participate in the forum and provide your thoughts.

The forum is drawn from a working document, "Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court," which the Consensus Project drafted following a year of interviews and site visits; a review of scholarly literature; and feedback from representatives of MHCP grantee courts. BJA and the Consensus Project now hope to tap into the experience of criminal justice and mental health professionals to ensure that the document is representative and of maximum utility to the field. A panel of experts will be convened to review contributions made through the forum and incorporate them into the final document.

The forum enables reviewers to read the draft language for each of ten "essential elements;" rate each element's accuracy, relevance, and the quality of the provided explanation; and provide further details about his/her
response. A reviewer may also suggest elements not included in the current version of the document.

While the model for the "Essential Elements" document is the U.S. Department of Justice's 1997 publication,
Defining Drug Courts: The Key Components, this way of obtaining feedback from the field is without precedent.
BJA and the Consensus Project encourage you to participate in this venture to ensure that your thoughts are included. Click here to learn more.