Web produced by: Jessica Noll
Northern Kentucky University announced that a Northern Kentucky Regional Mental Health Court (NKYRMHC) is up and running thanks in part to a $162,000 grant from The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.
The court will divert people who have persistent mental illnesses from jail and connect them to treatment and social services.
The NKYRMHC previously received over $95,000 in planning grants from the NKU University-Community Partnership Program and The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. The court began screening people into the program on early November and held its first official court session November 20. It will meet monthly.
Project partners include Kenton County District Court Judge Charles Moore, NKU political science and criminal justice professor Julie Raines, NKU counseling and social work professor Greg Hatchett and David Wilkerson from the NKU Training and Development Center.
The court is for residents of Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties who have mental illnesses and who have committed misdemeanor or felony offenses. The targeted population also often has substance abuse problems and high rates of homelessness and poverty. They also tend to be repeat offenders.
Pretrial Services will identify potential participants for the court within 12 hours of arrest. Each individual who qualifies will be given the choice to get treatment or go to prison or jail. All participants appear before Judge Charles Moore at the Kenton County Courthouse.
Once a person has entered the program, he or she is connected to the program administrator, who coordinates treatment and services and serves as the liaison between the criminal justice and mental health systems. Once in the program, participants will receive treatment, counseling and other services.
The NKYRMHC can be reached at (859) 391-0885 or nkyrmhc@nku.edu. Click here for further details.
