Mental Health Courts Collaborative Deadline Extended!

JCMH’s Mental Health Courts Collaborative Application deadline has been extended to November 10, 2023.

Without accessible resources, some people with mental illness cycle through the court system repeatedly. Mental Health Court Programs can interrupt this cycle by connecting justice-involved individuals with long-term community-based treatment, resources, and ongoing judicial monitoring. Texas counties with a population of 200,000 or more are required by law to create a Mental Health Court Program unless the county seeks but does not receive funding for such a program. See Tex. Gov’t. Code 125.005. Currently, over fifty percent of the counties of this size do not have a Mental Health Court Program that serves adults.

JCMH is launching the Mental Health Courts Collaborative, a program providing technical assistance and support for judges who want to start a Mental Health Court Program or judges whose Mental Health Court Program is less than a year old. Consisting of three online sessions in early 2024 and an in-person component at the annual conference of the Texas Association of Specialty Courts, the small group will cover topics critical to the creation of a Mental Health Court Program: model courts, judicial ethics, grant writing, and more. This Collaborative will be for judges, by judges, with the chance to learn from experienced mentor judges and collaborate with other judges facing the same challenges.

Applications are open and the deadline has been extended to November 10, 2023. More information can be found here.

Texas Lawyers Assistance Program Volunteer Training

Texas Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) is hosting a one-hour peer volunteer training by Zoom on November 15, approved for one hour of CLE (ethics). All current and prospective TLAP volunteers are invited to this training event. Volunteers will receive the current Volunteer Handbook, which will cover TLAP’s history, current functions, how to be peer support as well as the dynamics of addiction, denial and enabling, depression, stress and burnout, cognitive decline, suicide prevention and local resources. The Zoom link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9508612647.

NAMI Texas First Episode Psychosis Survey

NAMI Texas is collecting stories via a google survey from individuals or their loved ones that have experienced First Episode Psychosis (FEP). The goal of this survey is to gather information surrounding treatment availability and outcomes, specifically regarding Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC). This information is important not only for NAMI Texas but for the entire state as it can impact the trajectory of CSC services.

The google survey can be found here. The Spanish version of the survey can be found here. Please Note: names and personal information will not be shared or distributed.