Second criminal justice workshop held by TOPICC
TULSA, OKLAHOMA - The Oklahoma Partnership In Creating Change (TOPICC)addressed the complex social intersection when Oklahomans living with a mental illness clash with the state's criminal justice system during a daylong statewide conference of judges, police, corrections and mental health advocates on Oct. 22, 2003 in Tulsa.
Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System Part II: Solutions for Creating Change was held Oct. 22 at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Tulsa.
TOPICC, a coalition of law enforcement officers, legislators and mental health professionals, is committed to working together to combat the stigma of mental illness, to decrease inappropriate jail or prison time of those with a mental illness and to ensure their proper treatment in the system.
"State budget cuts have put many consumers of mental health service in crisis, increasing their vulnerability to increased contact with the criminal justice system on the street with police, in the courts and finally at the county jails and prison system," said TOPICC president James Fitzpatrick, a major with the Oklahoma City Police Department.
Oklahoma County District Judge Nancy Coats, the judge who established the state's first mental health court, was the conference moderator. Keynote speaker, San Bernardino County California Deputy Chief Norman Hurst, presented an evidence-based successful model of a county jail program for diverting mentally ill people from the criminal justice system. A panel of Oklahoma criminal justice experts led a discussion into the variety of successful program options that Oklahoma can consider implementing on the various levels of our criminal justice system.
"This conference is a solutions-focused response to the first TOPPICC criminal justice conference held in January. The problems presented at that ground-breaking convergence of criminal justice experts and mental health advocates yielded many hot button issues that demanded follow-up," Fitzpatrick said.
The second conference touched on methods to more fairly and humanely help a consumer of mental health services through the Oklahoma criminal justice system with the focus being treatment over punishment.
Southwest's first mental health court receives federal grant
The Oklahoma County Mental Health Court recently was awarded a $150,000 grant from
the U.S. Justice Department.
The two-year grant will fund an intensive case manager position and temporary respite
beds for those sentenced through mental health court.
In Mick Hinton's story in The Oklahoman, Mental Health Commissioner Terry Cline said,
"Receiving this grant is a major step toward more humane treatment of certain
individuals with a diagnosed mental illness who otherwise might end up in jail."
Eight people with mental illness have been diverted from jail since the court's
inception last November. The Oklahoman reported that the court expects to have
25 clients sentenced to treatment through the program by the end of the year.
District Court Judge Nancy Coats, a TOPICC Strategy Committee member, is credited
with starting Oklahoma County's Mental Health Court after she donated $20,000 of
her campaign money toward it. Oklahoma County has the only mental health court in
the Southwest.
"This grant legitimizes the court and will give us a real boost toward providing
more solutions for people who are mentally ill and are often incarcerated," Coats
told The Oklahoman.
Be part of webcasts, web chats
The Center for Substance Abuse (CSAT) is sponsoring co-occurring
disorders webcasts and web chats at their Recovery Month Web site at
http://www.recoverymonth.gov/2003/multimedia/. Webcasts available
include "The Road to Recovery 2003" and "When Addiction and Mental
Disorders Co-Occur."
CSAT, created in October 1992 by a congressional mandate, provides
national leadership in the federal government's effort to improve
the lives of individuals and their families affected by alcohol and
drug abuse.
Recovery Month is an annual observance that takes place during the
month of September. The observance highlights the societal benefits
of substance abuse treatment, lauds the contributions of treatment
providers and promotes the message that recovery from substance
abuse in all its forms is possible. It also serves to educate the
public on substance abuse as a national health crisis, that
addiction is a treatable disease, and that recovery is possible.
Recovery Month provides a platform to celebrate people in recovery
and those who serve them.
Hundreds attend first conference
More than 400 people recently attended the first "Mental Illness and
Criminal Justice" conference at the University of Central Oklahoma.
The conference prompted coverage from The Oklahoman, the Tulsa
World and TV stations KFOR and Fox.
The Oklahoman reported that one panelist, Seminole County
Sheriff Joe Craig, said that sometimes Craig said sometimes mentally ill
people he picks up and takes to a hospital "beat us back home" because
hospitals release them almost immediately after determining they do not
pose an immediate threat to themselves or others.
"There's something wrong with this system," he said. "We're not
trained and qualified to deal with the mentally ill, and shouldn't have
to."
"Mental Illness and Criminal Justice"
Powerpoint Download
Presentation by Nancy Wolff
PowerPoint
Download
Presentation by Rev. Peter Young
For a complete report on the conference, go to: http://www.ocjrc.net/Publications.asp.
TOPICC Advertisement
Click the link below to view our ad that appeared in the Winter 2003
edition of "Oklahoma Chief to Chief -- The Official Publication of the
Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police."
PDF Download
TOPICC Ad
Norman resident wins logo contest
Mark Shaw, a commercial artist from Norman, has won the logo contest for TOPICC, or The Oklahoma Partnership for Creating Change.
Shaw won the contest for the logo that will be used in the
organization's letterhead, Web site and other print publications. He
will be awarded $100 in cash and recognized at the annual state
conference for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
The logo was designed "around the five groups of Oklahomans working
together to create change in the treatment of the mentally ill," Shaw
said. "Each of the five stylized humans represent a specialized group
with arms lifted in spirit and joined in partnership. The five figures
are seemingly connected, demonstrating their commitment to positive
future change for Oklahomans suffering with mental illness."
The groups represented in the logo are "Oklahoma judges, law enforcement
officials, mental health professionals, legislators and individuals
committed to the humane treatment of Oklahomans with mental illness,"
according to TOPICC's mission statement. TOPICC's subtitle is "from
crisis to opportunity in mental health."
Shaw and his family moved to Norman in 2000 after he retired as
marketing director of Atwoods in Enid. He was born in Berkeley, Calif.,
in 1956 but was raised in Norman where he graduated from Norman High
School in 1975. A graduate of Oklahoma State University in Okmulgee, he
also has worked in publications at OSU in Stillwater and as manager of
medical graphic arts for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in
Lubbock. After 16 years with Atwoods, a regional chain of farm and home
stores, he relocated his family to Norman.
He and his wife, Candace, two daughters, Lindsay 16 and Marilyn 14. His
hobbies are managing his daughter's soccer team, drag-racing classic
cars and working on the family's acreage.