An estimated 2 million people with serious mental illnesses—almost three-quarters of whom also have substance use disorders—are booked into local jails each year. Federal and state policy and funding barriers, along with limited opportunities for law enforcement training and arrest alternatives in many communities, have made county and other local jails the de facto mental health hospitals for people who cannot access appropriate community-based mental health treatment and services.
Reno County is not excluded in these issues. We recognized the need for systems-level change to help better link people to treatment and services while improving public safety in a fiscally responsible and effective way.
That is why United Way of Reno County along with partners helped start the Stepping Up Initiative for our community.
Stepping Up engages a diverse group of organizations with expertise on these issues, including those representing the Sherriff and Hutchinson Police Department, jail administrators, judges, community corrections professionals, treatment providers and other stakeholders.
The initiative supports developing and adopting a cross-systems action plan through strategies such as a partnership between Horizons and the Hutchinson Police Department with a co-responder program. This program allows for a mental health professional to assist police officers when there is a mental health issue involved. We are one of 10 counties in Kansas to have adopted this initiative.
Stepping Up seeks to bolster cross-systems collaboration and build out community-based services and supports to reduce incarceration and reincarceration, respond effectively to people in crisis, and ultimately prevent contact with the justice system in the first place.
