Mental Health Court
The Tallapoosa Circuit Accountability and Resource Court (Mental Health Court) and its embedded treatment and intensive case management program component, ARCH (Accountability and Resource Court Helps), is an effort by the local judicial system to provide better outcomes for persons that have become participants in the criminal justice system due, substantially, to an underlying mental illness.
The Court will accept willing participants who wish to address the mental health issues which have brought them into contact with the justice system. As part of the program, participants are given the opportunity to learn to be responsible for their own mental health needs and their own actions. This is done through a system of accountability measures, medication management, group and individual evidence-based treatment, drug and alcohol monitoring, and intensive case management. Even more so than other accountability courts, this court is very much driven by the need to address each participant’s needs on an individual basis, requiring very thoughtful, deliberate and detailed case management and treatment goals.
The Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit Accountability and Resource Court is a mental health treatment, post plea program that is typically 18 to 24 months in duration and consists of five phases-Orientation, Engage, Maintain, Stabilization, and Transition. The goal of the program is to increase the stability of participants so that they may avoid reoffending and are able to stay in the community. We accomplish this by linking individuals to mental health services and if needed, substance abuse treatment in addition to other community resources that will help them to live a healthy, productive life.
ARCH, the embedded treatment and case management portion of the Court’s relationship with the defendant, is a voluntary program designed for individuals who are accused or indicted with a misdemeanor or felony criminal offense(s) and whose chronic mental illness played a significant role; many of whom have a co-occurring addictive disease. This program will foster collaboration between treatment providers, social service providers, the justice system, and the community, thus promoting accountability and better results for participants.
Mission Statement
The Tallapoosa Circuit Accountability and Resource Court seeks to improve the lives of citizens who exhibit a chronic combination of mental health issues and criminal arrests to have a more peaceful, active, and productive existence. This program will also focus on individuals with a co-occurring addiction diagnosis. We do this through reductions in recidivism and hospitalizations, promoting self-sufficiency, and offering more effective alternatives to incarceration for the participants in the program. Programmatically, this is accomplished by utilizing local and regional resources to provide the participants with the professional mental health treatment and intensive case management services necessary to allow them to learn accountability for their own mental health, and achieve long-term stability to the betterment of themselves, their families and their community.
Desired Goals of Accountability and Resource Court
Like any other mental health accountability court, the goals of the Court are to:
- Reduce the number of encounters between the mentally ill and law enforcement and the judicial system
- Reduce the number of mentally ill diverted into the local jails and state prisons where their conditions remain untreated
- Improve public safety by quickly connecting those people with chronic mental illnesses and criminal interaction who can be and are willing to be served by this program with community resources.
- Connect those with mental illness with other services necessary for their stability and wellness, such as employment, disability benefits, housing, and life skills education through intensive case management.
For more information, contact the program coordinator, Monique Henderson, at 770-646-2009 (Haralson County) or 770-749-2118 (Polk County) or 678-986-8874 (Cell phone).