In an initial partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Illinois Department of Mental Health and the Cook County Department of Health, the first iteration of MHISSION connected the Cook County Jail with its then 11,000 daily inmate population with 86 community mental health centers serving the Greater Chicago area.
The MHISSION System made it virtually impossible for persons with serious mental illness to fall off the “radar screens” of the community centers and quickly made continuity of care between the jail and community the standard of care. It also quickly led to important policy changes.
With the full support of patient advocacy organizations, the Illinois Confidentiality Act was amended to support the clinical communication between correctional and community care teams. The system has been in continuous use and has expanded to include one third of the state of Illinois.
MTS expanded its work across the justice/mental health continuum through a series of projects undertaken in collaboration with the University of Vermont Center for Clinical and Translational Science (UVM CCTS), the Vermont Department of Mental Health, the Vermont Department of Corrections, and the State’s Attorney’s Office.
MTS provided the expertise to design a unique information system in support of a veteran jail diversion/trauma recovery program at UVM CCTS. The MHISSION information system created a cross-functional workflow to enable case management among actors that included peer navigators, mental health providers, courts, police, and corrections.
At the center of the MHISSION system was an electronic Self Sufficiency Matrix (SSM) that enabled peer navigators to assess veterans for needs across domains such as housing, mental health, criminal justice, employment, substance use, etc., connect the veteran with services and treatment to address the priorities, and then track veteran progress over time.
In addition, the MHISSION system enabled data collection for research into the criminogenic effects of trauma on veterans and the efficacy of various jail diversion approaches in avoiding incarceration.
MTS expanded the MHISSION system for use in the Chittenden County Rapid Intervention Community Court (RICC), a pre-charge system through which offenders are quickly assessed using evidence based screening tools and offered diversion to community programming, services, and community-based accountability programs.