Background:

Specialty mental health supervision (SMHS) is a form of community supervision that assigns people with serious mental illness to specially trained officers (SMHP officers) to ensure they are linked to the treatment and supports they need to remain safe and stable within the community. Although the SMHP model relies on collaboration between SMHP officers and behavioral health service providers, there are many barriers and challenges that can get in the way of working together. The NETWORC Project uses community-engaged and data-driven methods to (1) identify barriers to collaboration and (2) develop tailored strategies that promote collaboration and coordination between SMHP officers, behavioral health service providers, and other local resources.

Aims:

• Identify multilevel factors that inhibit specialty mental health probation (SMHP) officers’ capacity to link individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) to treatment providers

• Conduct a process evaluation of the NETWORC implementation approach

• Evaluate the efficacy, acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and cost of the collaborative implementation toolkit

Principal Investigator:

Tonya Van Deinse

Co-investigators, research associates, program staff:

Julia Metz

Research Assistants

Allison Waters and Caroline Harris