| In February, the Council for Court Excellence and the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor released a report examining services and systems at the intersection mental health and the criminal justice system. The report’s 25 findings and 77 recommendations span the continuum of prevention, treatment, and recovery at all stages of possible interaction with the criminal justice system. DBH has made recent progress in several of these areas, but the effectiveness of its efforts is inherently limited so long as the District’s behavioral health system for justice-involved consumers: has structural deficiencies; lacks a clear vision and coordinated strategies for delivering forensic and other related services; lacks adequate infrastructure to support effective forensic service delivery; is not fully staffed with forensically trained specialists; and lacks appropriate and effective community-based alternatives to arrest, incarceration, high utilization of the psychiatric emergency system, and psychiatric hospitalization.
Please join us on June 19 at 5:15 pm at the beautiful new DC Bar headquarters for a robust conversation, moderated by the DC Auditor, Kathleen Patterson, in which local leaders will discuss their vision for the future of DC’s mental health services for justice-involved people.
You can RSVP for free by clicking here. We look forward to seeing you there |
