Treatment providers and criminal legal system professionals tend to operate in siloes, despite the fact that they often serve the same populations with mental and substance use disorders. While over half of people in jails and prisons have a substance use disorder, individuals who are identified as needing treatment and recovery supports are frequently unable to access those services when booked into or released from jail. This is often due to limited partnerships between criminal legal system and behavioral health agencies, resulting in few opportunities to start or continue treatment. There is a critical need for cross-disciplinary collaboration to enable a recovery-oriented approach to support individuals with mental and substance use disorders who may be cycling in and out of local jails and hospital emergency departments.
Focusing on San Diego’s Serial Inebriate Program (SIP), this webinar explores ways to build and support collaborations between key stakeholders to improve outcomes for "familiar faces" within these systems who experience mental and substance use disorders. Essential aspects of engaging partners and cultivating buy-in will be presented, including practical considerations for building collaboration in both correctional and community-based settings, training needs, technological supports, staffing, and funding.