Cook County Juvenile Justice and Mental Health Collaboration

The Juvenile Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JJMHCP) supports cross-system collaboration to improve responses and outcomes for youth with mental illness (MI) or co-occurring MI and substance abuse (CMISA) who come into contact with the juvenile justice system. This program supports public safety efforts through partnerships with juvenile justice, mental health and substance abuse agencies to enhance responses to justice-involved youth with MI and CMISA.

Cook County Health (CCH) is expanding their efforts to reduce the cycle of incarceration for juveniles with mental illness or substance use disorder, increase public safety, and improve responses and outcomes for justice-involved youth by facilitating cross-system collaboration. CCH will hire care coordinators, specializing in screening/assessment, who will provide immediate screening and assessment of adolescents identified in court as meeting criteria. As a part of CCH’s Juvenile Justice Care Coordination team, these coordinators will be present and available as needed for mobile assessments. The Juvenile Temporary Detention Center at CCH will partner with the Behavioral Health Consortium to provide continued care for adolescents diagnosed with behavioral health and/or substance use disorder who are released into the community. This effort will provide a safe linkage to outpatient or inpatient services for individuals with MI/CMISA, to reduce court costs and provide patients with an appropriate level of treatment. CA/NCF