by Frank Weir
Legal News
A fundamental part of Jackson County’s Mental Health Court is the presentation of a certificate and gift card to those who have successfully completed its requirements.
A minor afterthought akin to the punch and cookies served at their graduation ceremony? Not so.
“Our participants typically have never gotten a certificate in their lives or a gift card for anything,” says Diane Cranston, executive director of clinical services for Lifeways.
LifeWays is the Community Mental Health organization responsible for the behavioral health services for residents of Jackson and Hillsdale County, and is the mental health court partner responsible for the behavioral health treatment services.
“They’ve never had anyone tell them they did a good job no matter what their strengths or weaknesses might be. That’s something the rest of us take for granted.”
District Judge Michael Klaeren who presides over the court added, “They’ve never had anyone of substance or significance give them the time of day. Yet here we have a judge, probation agents, therapists, and a prosecutor offering to help them solve their problems.
The Mental Health Court is in its second year, a spin off of the county’s first specialty court that deals with substance abuse, and its second, addressing domestic aggression.
Recovery Court is presided over by Judge Chad Schmucker, who also heads the planning committee for the Mental Health Court. Those accepted into the Mental Health Court must be Jackson residents; have a pre-existing history of mental illness; and be charged with a felony carrying a possible five-year prison term or a less serious felony or misdemeanor charge.
It is a voluntary program and the incentive is that the participant will stay out of jail so long as he or she cooperates.
Individuals plead guilty to the charge they face and are sentenced to “intensive supervised probation” of 12 to 18 months, generally, though it may be as much as five years.
A team consisting of Judge Klaeren, therapists, probation personnel, police, and prosecutor evaluate participants as they begin the program.
The team meets every other week to evaluate the participants’ progress as they follow the rules and requirements of the court, which include:
––coming to court every two weeks where Klaeren interacts with them;
––attending treatment sessions with therapists in the LifeWays Provider Network;
––following an 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew;
––submitting to random drug and alcohol screenings if substance abuse is an issue;
––following other directions from probation agents assigned to their case.
“We have many rules and regulations and we do pick up a lot of violations by our participants over the time of their probation compared to less intensive probation programs but our goal is to get that person to succeed,” Klaeren said. “We want quality graduates who will stand the test of time.” Violations can result in extended curfew hours, community service work, or even jail.
Klaeren noted that Jackson is one of 11 mental health courts in the state. But it is unique in several ways, including a partnership with a pharmacy in Jackson to make sure participants are receiving and taking medications for their conditions. Also unique is the participation of a Jackson County hospital with an in-
patient psychiatric unit.
Certainly funding for the court is an ongoing issue. Although some start-up grants are gone, the court received federal dollars to sustain it through 2012.
But both Cranston and Klaeren are confident it will continue to exist. Cranston said, “There’s no walking away from this. It will happen no matter what, even if we went back to a bare bones approach.
“And politicians have been very supportive. Mark Schauer was a key component of support when he was a state senator and he still is as a United States Congressman,” she said.
For Klaeren, the court is his passion. “I really believe in the ability of the District Court to have an impact in the area of rehabilitation...
“Most of the people who end up in District Court are not your serious criminals. Often they are young people or folks with chronic problems who have made some bad choices and, with some guidance, can turn their lives around.”
Cranston continues to be excited by the opportunities that the court offers from her mental health treatment perspective.
“In the past,...we of course emphasized the mental health aspects but we, as well as the court, tended to operate in a vacuum. Our graduates, and those who are succeeding in the program...you can see how much better they are doing with their mental illnesses.”
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