ValueOptions' Court Advocacy and Jail Diversion Programs Improve Outcomes and Reduce Crime...

PHOENIX -- ValueOptions:

--Behavioral Health Program - a Collaboration of Maricopa County Comprehensive Mental Health Court, Maricopa County Adult Probation, and ValueOptions - to be presented as a Model Program at National GAINS Conference April 5-7

ValueOptions, the Regional

Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA) for Maricopa County, announced today that its Court Advocacy and Jail Diversion programs, in partnership with Maricopa County Comprehensive Mental Health Court and Maricopa County Adult Probation, have significantly reduced the rate of new offences (recidivism) among offenders with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) to five percent, nearly half the relapse rate of general population offenders.

"Now we have evidence that appropriate response addressing the treatment needs of people with mental illness both reduces the crime rate and improves public safety," said Shelley Curran, Director of Court Advocacy and Jail Diversion programs for ValueOptions Arizona. "With 9 percent recidivism among general offenders, the success of the collaboration between ValueOptions and the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department SMI Unit perfectly illustrates how coordination between the criminal justice and behavioral health systems can successfully improve offender outcomes and reduce the use of costly and ineffective jail days."

The ValueOptions Jail Diversion program currently has a 70 percent completion rate for persons with SMI who have been booked into Maricopa County Jail, which results in avoiding additional jail time by having charges dropped after successful participation in mental health treatment. This unique partnership among judicial officers, attorneys, ValueOptions' treatment providers, and correctional service personnel overcomes fragmentation in the continuity of care for mental health consumers in the justice system by improving communication and collaboration. When persons with SMI are booked into jail, the ValueOptions Jail Diversion Team intervenes on behalf of them to prevent inappropriate jail sentencing by accurately identifying, treating and applying mental health services.

"The need for good collaboration between the criminal justice and mental health systems is absolutely critical," said Michael S. Shafer, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the College of Human Services at Arizona State University, and a consultant to the Maricopa County Superior Court. "The ValueOptions/Maricopa County Adult Probation partnership is a good example of this. Together, they have made great strides in strengthening the partnership between the bench and behavioral health system."