Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
September 1, 2004, Vol. 04-87

Strategies for Effectively Integrating Consumers as Staff and Experts into Jail Diversion Programs

Join the TAPA Center's Net/Tele Conference on Wednesday, September 22, 2004 from 2:00-3:30 pm (EST) to learn how to effectively integrate consumers into jail diversion programs. Participants will listen to the presentation via telephone (toll-free) while viewing a PowerPoint presentation via the internet (optional).

LaVerne Miller of the Howie T. Harp Advocacy Center, Ann-Marie Louison of the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), and a consumer (TBD) working within a jail diversion program will cover the following topics:

Ways to tap the expertise of consumers in all aspects of jail diversion program planning and operation

Tips for recruiting, hiring, training, supporting, and integrating consumer staff into jail diversion programs

An intensive peer specialist training for people with histories of mental illness and incarceration

The successes and challenges, from the multiple perspectives, on integrating consumers as staff and experts

For more information, contact Nell Brady at 1-866-518-8272 (TAPA), nellbrady@prainc.com, or see full instructions at http://www.prainc.com/uploads/TAPA/NetTeleConference

The TAPA Center for Jail Diversion, a branch of the National GAINS Center, was funded by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) via the Targeted Capacity Expansion (TCE) Grants for Jail Diversion Programs to address the Technical Assistance and Policy Analysis needs of communities in developing programs to divert people with mental illness from jail into community-based treatment and supports.

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The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.