A new wellness court of Kansas City, Missouri, aims to adopt a more complete approach to cases involving the consumption of substances and mental illness.
The new specialized court is designed to merge separate mental health and drug courts of the city, considering offenses alongside resources, treatment and a path outside the legal system.
Kansas City has had various specialized courts for over 20 years. The new well-being court is the last attempt in the city to reduce recurrence and better help people to cross the legal system.
Kansas City President Judge Courtney Wachal, who was appointed to the City Domestic Violence Court ten years ago supervises the new wellness court.
Although there are thousands of drug courts on a national level, there are less than 500 courts dedicated to mental health. Watchal said that when the system is set up to filter people with co-occupation problems or offenses “between two different courts, some people could go through the mesh.
“Each individual is different and if we have not succeeded, then we have somehow lost this individual in the process,” she said. “We spent too much time trying to understand where they belong, and when we understood, it was as if we already lost them in the system.”
About two out of five people incarcerated in the United States have history of mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Disease. Often, this means that the country’s prisons and prisons end up serving as mental health facilities, which have limited treatment resources, added WACHAL.
A person with a serious mental health problem is reserved in prison about two million times a year, according to Nami.
This is probably an under accountability, said Shannon Scully, principal director of the criminal justice policy for the mental health organization, “because we do not always get a lot of very good data on people who are reserved in prisons. “
On the other side of the State, the County of St. Louis has a similar co-cccurrant court which offers an alternative to incarceration.
WACHAL said most people who go through the city’s specialized courts “do not often see the legal system as something that tries to help them”.
“Most of them have been incarcerated. It was a terrible experience, “she said. “They do not trust the legal system and they do not trust the judges.”
This is where specialized courts can strengthen some confidence by attracting mental health defenders, abusive support in substance, the judge, probation agents in a room to support the person in their process, added the judge .
“What we see happening is really more an intense collaborative process for somehow wrapped around these individuals and really supporting them on the path of recovery,” said Scully de Nami.
The Kansas City well-being court is an option for people charged in its municipal court, which manages various violations of the city orders. The program is a treatment program supervised by the court made available to those who show signs of concomitant disorders. Acceptance in the program is voluntary and the court assesses the processing needs of each person at the entrance.
A team involving a lawyer, a probation agent and coordinators help each participant stay on the right track with their treatment plan and follow their progress. Each person should make all their appointments, their appearances in court and attend courses or weekly self-assistance groups, among other expectations.
The third phase of the four -part program is the place where people have more freedom to participate in social programs and activities, Wachal said. At the community reintegration stage, participants work to repair their relationships with their families, start to apply for jobs and maintain the momentum they have already established. The last step is a matter of maintenance; Participants are preparing to obtain the diploma, to maintain a job and a accommodation.
“Let’s really give them a chance for it to be alone, they have something to live,” she said. “They are ready to stay outside the legal system and live a full life.”
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To obtain their program diploma, participants will have to meet certain requirements, in particular by completing treatments for the consumption of substances or treatment of mental health, being alcohol and without drugs for at least 180 days and complying with a plan Revention of relapses or follow -up, among others.
Holly Miles is the executive director of Nami Kansas City, a role she started in September. Before that, she worked for 20 years as a psychiatric nurse in mental health.
There is a break in mental health resources at all levels, she said.
It takes hours before someone entered an emergency room that knows a kind of acute psychosis obtains the medication he would need, she said.
“I have the impression that it is part of a decent human being and to try to bring people to help they need,” added Miles “they deserve a lifestyle, a type of quality of quality life.”
The Kansas City municipal court will also launch a new female court in March, in time for the month of women’s history, like another branch under the aegis of well-being. For this specialized court, sexual assault and trafficking in human beings, among other trauma, will be at the center of the object. Trade in human beings remains a big problem in Kansas City and the rest of the state, said that Wachal, who sits on the Missouri Supreme Court working group to fight domestic violence and human trafficking . Survivors in the trafficking in human beings are often in the legal system as defendants, which also victimized them, she added.
“This courtyard (women) is designed to raise them from top to bottom, give them the tools they need to break this cycle and live a life in silk,” said Wachal.
An internal security operation in Kansas City in 2021 led to a rescue of 31 survivors who faced a sexual exploitation. Among these, 14 lacked children.
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“When you change the way you approach people and give people the opportunity to be heard and see and give them support and show them that you believe in them and then give them tools for that, They can prosper, “said Wachal.
The municipal court works for a non -profit board of directors which strives to collect donations so that participants can obtain financial assistance for dental work and the rent of the first month, among others, to help rebuild their lives .
“In the municipal courtyard, people are not there for crimes. Now we have very serious cases, and it’s a completely different discussion. But for better or for worse. The maximum punishment range here is six months in prison, and we can do much better than that, “said Wachal.