CIT in Action

February 2008: Vol. 3, Issue 2

Feature Story: Montgomery County Emergency Service – A Model Provider-Based Diversion Strategy

Contributor: Tony Salvatore

Montgomery County Emergency Services (MCES) was created in 1974 by a community coalition that saw jail diversion as a mental health system role.  We exemplify the provider-based approach. MCES’ facility is a 73-bed nonprofit psychiatric hospital in Norristown, PA.  In addition to assisting the police, we offer a hotline, walk-in and mobile crisis services, inpatient care, a crisis residential program, and a psychiatric ambulance service.  (Read more...)

Advocacy Spotlight: Criminalization Fact Sheet

As part of the ongoing development of our CIT Advocacy Toolkit, we are pleased to announce the release of Criminalization Facts. This fact sheet provides the basic information you will need to argue persuasively that criminalization of people with mental illnesses is costly for communities, a burden on police and corrections, and tragic for people with mental illnesses.  It features sections on the high incidence of criminal justice involvement; the burden on corrections and police; and strategies that work to get people effective community services that prevent incarceration. (Read more…)

News and Announcements

2008 CIT National Conference

New York Passes Law To Enhance Treatment of Inmates with Serious Mental Illness

Study Shows CIT Officers Resolve Dangerous Situations Safely, Without Use of Force

Helpful Links

Comments or Suggestions?

Please let us know what you think we should include in future editions of CIT in Action by emailing Laura Usher at laurau@nami.org.

To unsubscribe: This newsletter is distributed via NAMI’s forensic list-serv, which includes periodic announcements and information about jail diversion, CIT and other forensic issues. If you wish to unsubscribe, please send an email to laurau@nami.org.

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