Perspectives from Community Corrections and Mental Health Practitioners: Bridging Connections and Fostering Inter-Agency Collaboration

• In Event: Correctional Staff and Service Provider Perspectives on Offender Populations

Abstract

Approximately 14% of male offenders and 31% of female offenders have a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression (Steadman, Osher, Robbins, Case, & Samuels, 2009). Meaningful behavioral change for offenders with mental illness is likely to hinge upon the efforts of several different agencies/systems—most importantly the criminal justice (e.g., probation and parole), mental health, and substance abuse treatment systems (Taxman, 2002). Fragmentation of these services, however, may ultimately contribute to poor offender outcomes; offenders can easily get lost between the cracks of various systems. To date, much of the discourse of inter-agency collaboration has been structurally or organizationally-based, and less attention has been paid to relational and substantive interpersonal aspects of inter-agency communication and collaboration. The present study involves the facilitation of focus groups with professionals involved with offender supervision and rehabilitation, and assesses practitioners’ perceptions concerning the relational aspects of inter-agency collaboration, as they pertain to criminal justice-mental health-substance abuse treatment collaborations. This body of research will inform policy efforts for the high-risk/high-need population of offenders with mental illness and will begin to test the assumption that inter-agency collaboration is crucial to successful outcomes among offenders with mental health and substance use problems.

Authors

• Jessica J. Warner, University of Cincinnati

• Sarah M. Manchak, University of Cincinnati