Drug Court Case Management

Case management is essential to carrying out the mandate of the key components of a drug court.  It is a series of inter-related functions that provides needed coordination and seamless collaboration, and is the force that holds the varied and many drug court elements together, ensuring that:

(1) clients are linked to relevant and effective services; (2) all service efforts are monitored, connected, and in synchrony; and (3) pertinent information gathered during assessment and monitoring is provided to the entire drug court team in real time.  Essentially, case management forms the framework around which the drug court process can credibly and effectively operate. case management programs follow one of four major case management models: Broker/Generalist; Strengths-Based Perspective; Assertive Community Treatment; and Clinical/Rehabilitation. Regardless of which model a court adopts, these models of case management share a core group of five key functions, comprised of assessment, planning, linking, monitoring, and advocacy. These key functions are linked to one another and incorporate the information gathered at every stage of the drug court process. Each of these key functions is presented along with a description of its purpose and a list of performance benchmarks to help guide and inform the effective utilization of case management as part of the drug court operation.

MENTAL HEALTH COURT CASE MANAGEMENT

Mental health courts are a recent and rapidly expanding phenomenon. In the late 1990s only a few such courts were accepting cases. Since then,more than 150 others have been established, and dozens more are being planned.

 Although early commentary on these courts emphasized their differences—and their diversity is undeniable—the similarities across mental health courts are becoming increasingly apparent. In fact, the vast majority of mental health courts share the following characteristics:

• A specialized court docket, which employs aproblem-solving approach to court processing in lieu of more traditional court procedures for certaindefendants with mental illnesses

• Judicially supervised, community-based treatmentplans for each defendant participating inthe court, which a team of court staff and mentalhealth professionals design and implement

• Regular status hearings at which treatmentplans and other conditions are periodicallyreviewed for appropriateness, incentives areoffered to reward adherence to court conditions,and sanctions are imposed on participants who do not adhere to the conditions of participation

• Criteria defining a participant’s        completion of(sometimes called graduation from) the program.The  reasons communities give for establishing mental health courts are also remarkably consistent:to increase public safety, facilitate participationin effective mental health and substance abuse treatment, improve the quality of life for people with mental illnesses charged with crimes, andmake more effective use of limited criminal justiceand mental health resources.

As the commonalities among mental health courts begin to emerge, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and others have become interested in developing consensus not only on what a mental health court is, but on what a mental health court should be.

"There are many paths to enlightenment.
Be sure to take one with a heart."
— Lao Tzu: was a Chinese philosopher

Resocial Group Facilitation: Sociotherapy for Sociopaths is an evidence based, twenty-four session group program created for adult clients with coexisting substance use disorders and the persistent problems of aggressiveness, breaking rules and laws, carelessness, dishonesty, impulsivity, indifference, irresponsibility and irritability.

Our program is designed to help prevent relapse and rearrest of parolees and probationers using the techniques of this group treatment include sociometry, sociodrama and social goal setting.

"The aim is to  treat offenders rehabilitate through resocialization in group sessions using 'sociometry' and other 'sociological counseling' techniques.                 

Sociotherapy for sociopaths' is clearly predicated on both general sociological concepts of socializationsocial learning theory. There are at least 1,500 certificated facilitators of Resocial Group (TM) in more than 30 U.S. states. {"The program is credited with reducing the number of repeat drug offenders in three states."}               

Dr. Yelder is one out of the 1,500 students in United States who is a Certificated Resocial Group Facilitator.

 Family Prevention Program Nurtures Genetically 'At-Risk' Teens'                  Research Summary:

New research from the University of Georgia suggests that a family-based prevention program helps youth avoid binge drinking and other drug use even if they carry a gene linked to risky behaviors.

The study, which was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), followed a group of 11-year-olds for two-and-a-half years. Study participants who participated in a family-centered prevention program were compared to a group that did not receive interventions.

The researchers found that program participants who carried the short allele form of 5-HTTLPR -- a form of the gene that is associated with impulsivity, low self-control, binge drinking and substance use -- were no more likely to engage in risky behavior than those without the gene who were enrolled in the program.

By contrast, adolescents carrying the gene who were not in the program were twice as likely to take part in risky behaviors as those carrying the gene in the prevention program.

"We found that the prevention program proved especially beneficial for children with a genetic risk factor tied to risky behaviors," said lead author Gene Brody. "The results emphasize the important role of parents, caregivers, and family-centered prevention programs in promoting healthy development during adolescence, especially when children have a biological makeup that may pose a challenge."