Florida Policymakers Host Workshop on Reinvestment Grant Program

Criminal justice and mental health leaders in Florida held a workshop this month to help counties prepare for a new statewide grant program. The Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Reinvestment Grant Program will provide funds to counties to plan, implement, or expand initiatives that increase public safety, avert increased spending on criminal justice, and improve the effectiveness of treatment services for individuals with mental illnesses, substance use disorders, or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in contact with the criminal justice system.

Florida Partners in Crisis, a statewide advocacy organization, and the Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Technical Assistance Center at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, sponsored the free event on October 4 in Orlando.

National and state experts gave presentations on a variety of issues:

• Dr. Henry Steadman, director of the National GAINS Center, and Michael Thompson, director of the Council of State Governments Justice Center, provided examples of effective cross-system collaboration, strategies for system change, and the use of best practices in criminal justice diversion efforts.
  
  
• The Honorable Steven Leifman, special advisor on criminal justice and mental heath to the Florida Supreme Court, and Ellen Piekalkiewicz, executive director of the Florida Substance Abuse and Mental Health Corporation, provided an overview of the many initiatives in Florida, including the grant program and the work of the Florida Supreme Court's Mental Health Subcommittee.
  
  
• John Petrila, director of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, spoke about common myths surrounding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), data collection, and information sharing.

In the afternoon, issue experts led breakout sessions to discuss specific strategies for cross-system collaboration.  Topics included

• Police-based strategies
• Jail-based strategies
• Court-based strategies
• Community care

Please visit the Florida Substance Abuse and Mental Health Corporation website for more information about the grant program.