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Forensic Outreach
CHOICE is seeking funding for a program
whose primary focus would be to engage mentally ill inmates in order to facilitate
their transition back into the community upon release. Services would be available
to inmates sentenced to one year or less as well as those un-sentenced inmates
who have been or are expected to remain at the Westchester County jail for at
least ninety days.
Extending CHOICE’s model of peer services, this
program would establish the first mental health peer outreach in the county jail.
Individuals who would become homeless upon release would be prioritized. Linkages
would be established with homeless outreach services, case management services,
medical services and other supports that the inmate may require upon release.
Clients would be assisted in the acquisition of benefits, particularly Medicaid,
in a process beginning pre-release so as to ensure access to resources as quickly
as possible upon the transition from the correctional system to the shelter system.
This program would also include post-release follow up, which could
include intra-agency transfer to other CHOICE programs, ensuring continuity of
care until the individual’s service needs are accounted for.
CHOICE,
as a participant in the county’s housing, case management and homeless outreach
access committees, is particularly well suited to assist in the coordination of
services for mentally ill clients entering the community out of incarceration.
Utilizing our long-standing collaborative relationships with the Single Homeless
Assessment Center, the County’s Forensic Outreach and Homeless Outreach Teams,
CHOICE would be able to provide an efficient base of support for the client as
well as a source of information for providers. This includes other mental health
providers seeking information on particular clients now lost within the correctional
system.
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