Mental Health Board Combating Mental Illness in Jail

In May 20, 2015 the DeKalb County Board passed a resolution to participate in the National Association of Counties Stepping Up initiative. This is a national initiative to reduce the number of people with mental illness in jails.

In DeKalb County, there are a number of adults incarcerated with a serious mental illness. According to The Stepping Up initiative “Almost three-quarters of these adults also have drug and alcohol use problems. Once incarcerated, individuals with mental illness tend to stay longer in jail and upon release are at higher risk of returning to incarceration than those without these illnesses. The human toll of this problem – and its cost to taxpayers- is staggering. Jails spend two to three times more money on adults with mental illnesses that require intervention than on those without those needs, yet often do not see improvements to public safety or these individuals’ health.”

DeKalb County has made strides in addressing this problem, such as Adult Drug Court, counseling services to those incarcerated in the DeKalb County Jail and programs such as “The Living Room” project at Ben Gordon Center but these efforts are impacted by operating with minimal resources such as funding, time and community understanding.

The Stepping Up process lays out six steps for counties to engage in tailoring a plan to reduce the number of people with mental illness in the DeKalb County Jail.
1. Convene a diverse team of leaders and stakeholders
2. Collect and review data
3. Examine treatment and service capacity
4. Develop a plan with measurable outcomes
5. Implement research-based approaches
6. Create a process to track and report on programs.

The DeKalb County Mental Health Board has been participating in technical assistance modules to gain information and learn about available tools and resources. Conversations are occurring in the County on how best to address the issues around mental illness. Currently work is occurring to identify what tools, resources and programs may be available to DeKalb County. Anyone interested in being part of the conversation on how to address mental illness should contact Deanna Cada, Executive Director, DeKalb County Community Mental Health Board.

Submitted by: Deanna Cada, Director, 2500 N. Annie Glidden Rd., Suite B, DeKalb, IL 60115, Phone: 815.899.7080.
Published from the DeKalb County Board Newsletter