On June
8, NAMI
BA Board
member
Carol
Ziolo
and I
had the
opportunity
to
attend
the
Mental
Health
Courts
Conference,
sponsored
by the
Illinois
Mental
Health
Courts
Association,
at the
College
of
DuPage.
The good
news
coming
out of
the
conference
is that
as
mental
health
courts
are
expanding
across
the
state,
mental
health
courts
are
beginning
to
provide
a real
opportunity
to
improve
mental
health
care in
Illinois.
The bad
news is
that
judges
in
mental
health
courts
are
facing
the same
problems
that
many of
us face
– lack
of
adequate
funding
for
mental
health
resources.
One of
the most
interesting
presentations
was by
Art
Lurigio
and
Monte
Staton
from
Loyola
University.
They are
conducting
a
research
study
and
survey
of
Illinois’
mental
health
courts.
Among
their
findings
are:
Mental
health
courts
are
growing.
Two
years
ago
there
were
150
mental
health
courts
in
the
US;
today
there
are
more
than
200.
Mental
health
courts
are
effective:
o They have lower recidivism rates than traditional criminal courts
o They are significantly more effective than the traditional courts in getting people into treatment
o Defendants in mental health courts spend less time in prison than to
those in the regular criminal court system.
Mental
health
courts
have
great
potential
to
save
the
state
a
lot
of
money:
Incarceration
and
hospitalization
are
very
expensive
interventions;
treatment
via
the
mental
health
courts
is
much
cheaper
and
much
more
effective!
According
to the
Ligurio
and
Staton
study, 9
of the
23
circuit
courts
in
Illinois
already
have
mental
health
courts
and
there
are 6
more
planned.
The
circuit
courts
that
already
have
mental
health
courts
include
Cook,
Lake,
McHenry,
DuPage,
Kane and
Will
Counties.
But, the
speakers
noted,
judges
are
finding
that
there
are not
enough
mental
health
resources
to meet
the
need. In
fact
since
their
study
began
about a
year
ago,
mental
health
courts
have
only
dealt
with 302
defendants.
Given
the
large
number
of
people
with
mental
illness
who are
caught
up in
our
criminal
justice
system,
that is
hardly a
drop
in the
bucket.
After
the
morning
presentations,
I
attended
several
interesting
breakout
sessions.
One
of the
most
interesting
was
presented
by Suzie
Piaseki
from
NAMI
DuPage.
Her talk
was on
Wellness
Recovery
Action
Plans
(WRAP).
The WRAP
idea was
developed
a
number
of years
ago by
Mary
Ellen
Copeland
and it
has been
very
helpful
to many
consumers.
WRAP is
a class,
typically
8 to 12
weeks,
for
consumers
and it
focuses
on
giving
the
people
in the
class
tools to
deal
with
their
mental
illness
– coping
skills,
things
to do to
feel
better,
and
things
to help
stay
well.
Each
person
in the
plan
develops
an
action
plan
covering
such
things
as
symptom
triggers,
early
warning
signs of
relapse,
pre and
post
crisis
planning.
The
class
also
looks at
recovery
topics
including
employment
and
responsibility
for
wellness.
Suzie
noted
two
websites
that are
helpful
for
people
interested
in
taking a
WRAP
class
or in
learning
more
about
WRAP:
http://www.mentalhealthrecovery.com/
and
http://www.illinoismentalhealthcollaborative.com/wrap/search.action
The
first of
these
websites
has a
lot of
descriptive
material
about
WRAP,
including
scientific
studies
into its
effectiveness,
and the
second
website
will
help you
find a
WRAP
class
near
you.
All
in all,
the
conference
was
excellent.
I hope
you will
be able
to
attend
next
year.
