Co-Chairs: 

Barbara Bazron, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
Rainey Brandt, Judge, District of Columbia Superior Court 

CJCC established the Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health Services Integration Taskforce (SATMHSIT) to better serve District of Columbia residents who suffer from substance use disorder, experience mental health challenges, and are involved in the criminal justice system. SATMHSIT was developed to improve the treatment options available to offenders, ex-offenders, and defendants with mental illness and/or co-occurring substance use disorder issues.  The goals of SATMHSIT are:

• Increased opportunities and improved capacity for diversion of mentally ill defendants from the criminal justice system.
• Linking citizens returning from incarceration to mental health services and substance abuse treatment. Improvement of aftercare opportunities for District residents with mental health or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders.
• Decrease in recidivism by individuals who successfully complete treatment programs.

The following research has been conducted by CJCC either as a request from District partners or as an effort to shed additional light on a specific topic. 

• Research in Brief (Vol. 1, Issue 3, 2016): Super-Utilizers in the District of Columbia
• Research in Brief (Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2016): New Psychoactive Substances (Synthetic Drugs)
• Mental Health Information Sharing in the DC Criminal Justice System
• Addressing Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders in the Criminal Justice System: Guiding Principles and DC Practices 
• DC Superior Court Medical Alert Protocol Report