photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson, second from right, speaks during a panel discussion on behavioral health and the criminal justice system on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at the Cider Gallery, 810 Pennsylvania St. The others, from left to right, are Judge Sally Pokorny, who presides over behavioral health court in Douglas County District Court; Nicole Rials, urgent care director at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center; Sgt. Ryan Halsted, of the Lawrence Police Department; and Bob Tryanski, the county's director of behavioral health projects.

A message that Douglas County leaders in behavioral health and the criminal justice system shared during a Tuesday event can be boiled down simply: We’re doing well, but we can do more.

The Stepping Up community recognition event, held at the Cider Gallery in East Lawrence, was planned primarily in celebration of a 56% reduction in the number of people with serious mental illness booked into the Douglas County Jail from 2014 to 2018. More than 75 people attended the event.

During the first part of the event, leaders with the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation — the organizations behind the national Stepping Up Initiative — praised Douglas County for the work it’s done.

The CSG’s data shows that the percentage of people booked into the jail with a serious mental illness flag has dropped from 18% in 2014 to 8% in 2018. Douglas County is one of the Stepping Up Initiative’s 11 “innovator counties” nationwide that are highlighted for their efforts to use mental illness screenings for those booked into jail, provide those individuals support and services, and accurately track their data.

However, during a panel in the event’s latter portion, county leaders said there is still much more to be done to lower the population of the jail and to support those with behavioral health concerns after they become involved with the criminal justice system, but also before that ever happens.

The panel’s moderator was Kati Habert, deputy director of behavioral health for the CSG Justice Center. She provides technical assistance to counties that are involved with Stepping Up, including Douglas County.

Panelists included Judge Sally Pokorny, who presides over behavioral health court in Douglas County District Court; Nicole Rials, urgent care director for Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center; Sgt. Ryan Halsted, who supervises the Lawrence Police Department’s mental health co-responder unit; Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson; and Bob Tryanski, the county’s director of behavioral health projects.

Branson said he thinks preventive services have been lost in a lot of the discussions on this subject over the past few years.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson, center, speaks during a panel discussion on behavioral health and the criminal justice system on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at the Cider Gallery, 810 Pennsylvania St. Other panelists pictured are Sgt. Ryan Halsted, of the Lawrence Police Department (left) and Bob Tryanski, the county’s director of behavioral health projects.

“We’re dealing a lot right now with what we do after somebody’s in the system,” Branson said. “We haven’t been talking the last couple of years about how we keep people from coming into the system, and we really have to start looking at that part of the conversation, too.

“Whether it’s support for WRAP workers to give kids support and everything they need while they’re in school,” Branson continued, referring to the Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities program that places Bert Nash counselors in schools, “… Whether it’s developing restorative justice things in our community that are outside the legal system — we need to try to work on the preventative services in our community to really bring this thing full circle and get the change that we want to see happen.”

Tryanski raised a similar concern, asking what can be done for young people who are starting to exhibit signs of the onset of serious mental illness before their situations decline to the point that they wind up in the criminal justice system.

“With good treatment, good services and ongoing support from the community, you can have a life that is full and rich, and we ought to be able to be putting those pieces in place so that everybody in our community can experience that regardless of what their health condition is,” Tryanski said.

Pokorny said she thinks more group living situations — such as Bert Nash’s transitional group home, Bridges — would help address some of the biggest challenges she sees.

She said sometimes she feels like after participants in behavioral health court have met the right markers, “we just jettison these people … and then we see them in a month.” Some people will just need extra assistance for the rest of their lives, Pokorny said, but she would hope to provide it in “the least restrictive environment.”

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Judge Sally Pokorny, left, who presides over the behavioral health court in Douglas County District Court, speaks during a panel discussion on behavioral health and the criminal justice system on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at the Cider Gallery, 810 Pennsylvania St. The other panelists, from left to right, are Nicole Rials, urgent care director at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center; Sgt. Ryan Halsted, of the Lawrence Police Department; Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson; and Bob Tryanski, the county’s director of behavioral health projects.

Rials said she wants to look toward how the broader community can build up a system of care, give it momentum and make it more visible. She would like to see more efforts to build social supports and networks to help fill gaps, particularly for the uninsured and underinsured who might not have access to comprehensive, wraparound support.

Halsted said he thinks the support of the community and of elected and appointed leaders, and the “thoughtful discourse” among them, are key to growing all of the involved behavioral health programs, reducing the jail’s population and reducing emergency room visits.

Panelists also acknowledged more good that has come from the county’s efforts over the last few years.

Pokorny said behavioral health court has run smoothly because everyone who has volunteered to be part of that team really wants to be there. Everyone realizes that they have their own “little” areas of expertise, she said, and they all respect one another.

Branson said the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, which the county established in March 2016, has brought so many different people to the table. It’s allowed the group to discuss data it does have, data it doesn’t have, what it needs and why it needs it, he said.

“You have to check your pride at the door, if you brought in with you at these meetings, and you have to be really willing to roll up your sleeves and get down into it,” Branson said.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinator Robert Bieniecki speaks during the Stepping Up community recognition event on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at the Cider Gallery, 810 Pennsylvania St. The event was a celebration of the reduction in the number of people with mental illness booked into the Douglas County Jail.

Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinator Robert Bieniecki closed the event saying that the national average rate of incarceration is 3.3 per 1,000 individuals. He said the state average is 3.2, and Douglas County’s is 1.8.

“We don’t like 1.8,” Bieniecki said. “We want to continue to work and continue to make progress and drag that down.”

The next CJCC meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 11 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds Flory Meeting Hall, 2120 Harper St.