Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

50. Diversion from the Criminal Justice System: Initiatives in theUK and AustraliaCriminal Justice Mental Health Liaison and Diversion Services: CurrentPractices and Future DirectionsJane Senior, University of Manchester (jane.senior@manchester.ac.uk)Criminal Justice Mental Health Liaison and Diversion services, designed to divert people withmental illness away from the criminal justice system, have proliferated in England and Walesover the last twenty years. They are universally regarded to be a “good thing”, but there is norobust body of research evidence to support the belief that they improve the health, social orcriminal outcomes of people who are in contact with them. The Department of Healthcommissioned the Offender Health Research Network to review current practices around liaisonand diversion and make a number of recommendations for future service development. Site visitsand telephone conferences were undertaken with 21 schemes using a semi-structured interviewschedule. This presentation will identify their referral process, methods of screening, assessmentand onward referral, and outline the problems identified with service provision, funding, coretasks, and inclusion/exclusion criteria. We conclude that liaison and diversion schemes provide aservice for clients who are not always well served by mainstream services, but there appear to beopportunities for service improvement through a standardisation of approach; a national model ofpractice; improved data collection; and more consideration to the conduct of ongoing evaluationsinto service impact and outcomes.Developing Criminal Justice Mental Health Pathways in South LondonAndrew Forrester, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK(andrew.forrester@kcl.ac.uk)South East London contains some of the United Kingdom’s most socially deprived boroughs,with high rates of mental health issues. Since 2008, there has been a focus on improving mentalhealth care pathways for people in contact with the criminal justice system. This presentationwill detail this process, starting with improvements to prison-based care services for people withserious mental illness, moves to enhance services at local courts, complemented most recently bya new wave of services in police custody areas. Throughout, there has been a distinct emphasison multi-agency working, with health agencies partnering with others such as HM Court Service,HM Prison Service, police, probation services, the voluntary sector and health service managersresponsible for commissioning care. Quantitative evaluation and research work will be presented124