The Mansfield Municipal Mental Health Court held its graduation ceremony on Wednesday, October 4. Nine people graduated at the event, which took place at the Rehab Center on Sterkel Blvd.
Mental Health Court was formed and began operating on January 1, 2004 and was the third of its kind in Ohio. It was developed to coordinate Court supervision services with treatment providers to divert misdemeanor offenders with severe mental illness from repeated encounters with law enforcement and the jails by increasing treatment compliance and access to services. These services include medication, group and individual counseling, housing, case management, crisis intervention, education and employment. This project was implemented without additional funding from the residents of Mansfield and Richland County.
The Mental Health Court is a voluntary Specialty Court Docket program providing intense supervision of offenders that involves regularly scheduled review hearings with the judge, home visits, curfew checks, drug and alcohol testing and increased communication with the treatment providers. The Mental Health Court program requires at least one year of supervision and treatment, which is organized into four phases, corresponding to individual development. The length of a participant’s involvement in the program is determined by the safety needs of the community as well as each individual’s needs and progress.