Traumatic Brain Injury and Incarceration: Ending a Vicious Cycle

To protect the heads of football players, it might be advisable to have them occasionally practice without head protection, according to a counterintuitive new study of a successful Division I football program.

A unique program at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center is combining prenatal care with psychiatric treatment for low-income women who might otherwise not seek help for mental health issues during pregnancy.

Assertive community treatment teams working through outreach-centered programs in Maricopa County have become an industry standard for treating those with persistent and severe mental illnesses who have recently been incarcerated. They provide a long-term approach, aiming to halt a cycle of incarceration and hospitalization by focusing on underlying issues such as what caused the police interaction and incarceration.

San Francisco’s chronically homeless population remains staggeringly high. Salt Lake City has managed to eradicate much of their chronically homeless by geographically placing supportive housing distant from the city’s center and receiving financial assistance from the Mormon Church. The housing is attractive, modern, and offers a good ratio between counselors and homeless clients—all of which helps make the homeless want to stay off the streets.

Kansas City is trying to prevent people who have mental health or substance abuse disorders, from committing crimes. In order to do that, the city created a police crisis intervention team. They help people access treatment through the Kansas City Assessment and Triage Center, or other treatment centers. “Everything we do here is to really bridge them into whatever that long-term need is.” It’s too early to tell if the method is working, but police officers, judges, and addicts, argue it is. “It's amazing. It puts a smile on my face every day, and I have got a future coming.”

Crossroads for Women, a New Mexico nonprofit, is helping formerly incarcerated women find community, support, and recovery. Using trauma-informed care practices, the program offers a comprehensive list of services like housing, mental health treatment, employment counseling, and substance abuse treatment. Underlying all services is the understanding that no individual is trauma free and that community and relationships are crucial to sustainable recovery.

Miami is home to a special type of child welfare program called CHANCE (Citrus Helping Adolescents Negatively Impacted by Commercial Exploitation) that is designed specifically for youth in foster care that have been trafficked. CHANCE has an intensive curriculum that educates foster parents and clinicians about child sex trafficking and child trauma, and families are only allowed to take in one child at a time so that they are prepared for the child's unique health needs. Studies done on the program have found that the youth have significant improvement in many emotional and mental categories.

By bringing mental health professionals and religious leaders together, faith communities can “flip the fear” of mental illness. Using grants from the American Psychiatric Association, organizations like Support Embrace Empower Mental Health Advocacy (SEEMA), the Muslim Mental Health Conference, and the Stanford Muslims and Mental Health lab, are all working to remove barriers to mental health treatment. Their initiatives focus on education to overcome stigma and cultural misunderstandings.

Implementing checklists to prevent suicide risks can reduce the number of deaths by suicide in psychiatric facilities. Since 2007, Veteran’s Affairs medical facilities across the country have successfully reduced the number of suicides in their facilities by taking measured steps to reduce risks. The checklist includes removing dangerous items from rooms and ensuring that patients are monitored by nursing staff. Increasing the data available has also led to new recommendations and standards.

As part of a revamp of its juvenile justice system, Connecticut launched youth treatment centers where residents meet regularly with counselors and mental health professionals. The centers focus on providing individualized care and a more welcoming atmosphere than traditional juvenile detention programs.