Understanding Support Networks Of Individuals With Mental Illnesses And Substance Use Disorders On Probation To Inform Care
Background:
People with mental illnesses are over-represented throughout the criminal justice system and the vast majority of the correctional population – nearly 70% – are under community supervision (i.e., probation or parole). Large probation caseload sizes, the lack of adequate mental health training for officers, and limited community-based resources create significant supervision challenges for managing high prevalence rates of mental illness.
Specialty mental health probation (SMHP) has proliferated as a promising strategy to manage the large numbers of individuals on probation with mental illnesses. Five key elements are basic to SMHP: (1) caseloads consisting exclusively of individuals with mental illnesses; (2) reduced caseload size; (3) ongoing mental health training for officers; (4) a problem-solving supervision orientation; and (5) collaboration with community-based service providers.
Aims:
Aim 1: Describe the professional and personal support networks of adults on probation with mental illnesses and substance use disorder, including the number and type of relationships within the network, clustering of service providers, the overlap in social relationships among actors within the network (i.e., multiplexity), and rural and urban differences.
Aim 2: Examine whether officers’ interactions with individuals’ professional (e.g., mental health service provider) and personal (e.g., family and friends) support networks differ across rural and urban settings.
Aim 3: Examine the impact of support network characteristics on probation violations.
Principal Investigator:
Tonya Van Deinse