Frank Sirotich, Kamalpreet Rakhra
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 2021; Advance online publication.

This study compared the characteristics and support needs of applicants to support housing with and without justice involvement. The strongest predictors of having justice involvement were a history of physical assaults, homelessness, problematic substance use, male gender and younger age. Development of justice-focused supportive housing models may be considered where traditional housing and support services are supplemented with evidence-based interventions targeting factors associated with increased risk of recidivism.

Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2020.

In collaboration with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) and CMHA National, CMHA Toronto undertook a scoping review of the academic and grey literature for the MHCC. This review highlights research on the prevalence of mental health problems and mental illness in the criminal justice system, experiences of justice-involved persons with mental health problems and mental illness, and promising practices and principles for mental health care.

Irma Molina, Peer Program Evaluation Project, 2019.

The Racialized populations and mental health court diversion project was undertaken collaboratively by the Community of Interest (COI) for Racialized Populations and Mental Health and Addictions. Focus groups were conducted by CMHA’s Peer Program Evaluation Project to explore the experiences and needs of racialized individuals as they interacted with mental health court support services and diversion. Themes from the focus groups were used to inform stakeholder consultations through a think tank organized by the COI involving over 150 participants including persons with lived experience, service providers and government representatives. Five key recommendations emerged from the stakeholder consultations:

1. Race-based data should be collected throughout the criminal justice system to better facilitate access to mental health court diversion for racialized individuals.
2. More culturally competent and trauma-informed services within the justice system, including specialized training for police officers, are needed.
3. Every member of the justice system, including judges, police officers, and mental health court support workers should be responsible for promoting mental health court diversion.
4. Culturally-specific system navigators are needed to share information and resources with justice involved individuals.
5. Mental health court locations and hours of operation should be expanded across the province.

For more information about this project, please contact Irma Molina at imolina@cmhato.org.

Frank Sirotich
Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, 2008; 8: 171-194.

The article is a review of the research literature exploring the demographic, historical, clinical and contextual factors associated with crime and violence among people living with a mental illness. It examines differences in finding across the research literature by taking into account methodological differences across studies.