Jail diversion program expanding
Hawk Eye, The (Burlington, IA)Jul 05, 2015
Last week, Gov.
"There's been a lot of confusion and normally, we don't know until the last minute that the changes are made,"
The regional mental health group Southeast Iowa LINK, an eight-county organization comprised of county supervisors and specialists who coordinate mental health and disability services, have discussed whether
After hearing positive news about the program, three more counties want to jump on board and increase mental health services for people in their counties.
"Since we regionalized, we became aware of the program and saw the benefits, and we wanted to follow suit. It follows through with our goal to take care of people and help those people reestablish themselves in the community," said
Area officials estimate about a 5 percent reduction of mentally ill people coming through the system since
While the program expansion is just in talks, the jails are prepared and eager to work with someone like
"I know our jailer and sheriff have space identified in the jail, and they are ready to bring someone in and help with this," Henry County MHDS coordinator
"It's really exciting. On a personal level, it makes me feel great. And on a professional level, it makes me feel great," said
"We have the resources here in
That link is crucial for offenders with mental health issues.
"They tend to commit crimes, like public disturbance, and they end up in jail instead of getting the help they need," Berndt said. "You see in the media, it's been reported that jails and prisons are the No. 1 provider of mental health services."
Berndt hopes people seek help voluntarily.
"They go to jail and then to court and a judge tells them to go get help. This way someone can say, 'I'm making appointments for people.' It's more about giving them the tools to follow through with, instead of someone just saying go do it," she said.
To help cover the added counties,
"Over the years, I've heard of programs, and the problem is how do you implement this in a rural area and be financially responsible and effective. After some talks, I think there is a way to implement something like this in our rural counties," Wulf said.
County officials will meet with
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