INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County Mental Health Court will hold its second graduation on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 2:15 p.m. in Courtroom 4 of the Indian River County Courthouse in downtown Vero Beach with seven graduates. Representative Debbie Mayfield will be the special guest speaker.
Indian River County’s Mental Health Court provides mentally ill defendants with the opportunity to receive community-based treatment and services through local providers while under the supervision of the Court.
Mental Health Court is both a diversionary and supervisory program (as a condition of probation) that provides court supervision and social services through collaboration with state, county, and local non-profit agencies.
Mental health court is designed to improve public safety by reducing criminal recidivism; improve the quality of life of people with mental illnesses and increase their participation in effective treatment; and reduce court and corrections related costs through administrative efficiencies and often by providing an alternative to incarceration.
Monitoring and treating offenders with mental illness in a mental health court is a more effective, efficient, and less expensive option than the remedies available through traditional justice system approaches. Participants who have met the minimum requirements of the program, engaged in treatment and services, abstained from alcohol and other drugs, and have displayed an improved quality of life, will be eligible for graduation. To date, Mental Health Court has had over 75 participants.
In addition, the Mental Health Court Team will recognize an officer for his/her outstanding implementation of the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) philosophy. CIT was developed to help law enforcement officers recognize and respond to calls involving citizens with mental illness.
CIT training promotes and supports collaborative efforts to create and sustain more effective interactions among law enforcement, mental health care providers, individuals with mental illness, their families and communities and also to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
Sheriff Deryl Loar and Public Defender Diamond Litty administer Indian River County’s Mental Health Court Program. Sheriff Loar and Judge Cox, as co-chairs, in collaboration with members of Indian River County’s Mental Health Collaborative, Vero Beach Police Chief Currey, Sebastian Police Chief Morris, Fellsmere Chief Touchberry and members from the State Attorney and Public Defender’s Offices worked together for approximately two years before the first Mental Health Court session in Indian River County on Jan. 27, 2015.
The public is invited to attend.
