Mental Health Court Kicks Off Thursday

There will be little fanfare when mental health court opens for the first time Thursday, no ribbon cutting, hearty handshakes or speeches.

But don't discount the occasion.

In a county with a growing number of suicides and involuntary commitments, advocates say even baby steps are welcome.

"This is a very smart move (for judicial services)," said Darlene Linville, executive director of Hernando's National Alliance on Mental Illness chapter. "It keeps people from cycling through the system and into treatment."

At the end of May, the chief judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit signed an administrative order establishing the mental health court. It's patterned after the drug court system, which allows certain offenders to go through court-supervised treatment instead of towards trial.

The idea with mental health court is to allow a nonviolent offender to go through the same type of probation and counseling. Kathleen Lonergan, chief organizer for drug court and now mental health court, provides a simple synopsis:

"With drug court we're trying to get people off of drugs. With mental health court we're trying to get them back on their drugs."

Jokes aside, Lonergan sees a bright future for mental health court as a way to rehabilitate offenders. Essentially, the participant will plead no contest or guilty to their charge, then spend at least a year receiving treatment while on probation. A successful completion usually means the charge is wiped off the criminal record.

At the moment, there's just one person on the docket. Organizers expect there will be room for up to 10 people in the program once it gets into full swing.

The first few months will be trial and error as everyone involved, including the state attorney and public defender offices, sheriff's office and the Harbor Behavioral Health Care Institute, work out the kinks in the procedure, said Circuit Judge Richard Tombrink.

Tombrink hosts the drug court and now the mental health court, which will be held concurrently. Drug court has been federally recognized as a proven idea for the past 20 years, so mental health court should follow its success, Tombrink said.

"I think all judges are troubled by people who are obviously mentally ill," said Tombrink. "They don't really fit into the rigid court system."

The Harbor funds the program through money received from the Department of Children and Families, according to Lonergan. A representative of the facility could not be reached to clarify.

From Linville's perspective, the judicial system has been going about it backwards for years. Instead of catching a mentally ill person before he or she wades through the courts, treatment usually follows commitment to a jail, she said.

While the number of people treated will be small, Linville sees the new court as a way to correct that trend.

"We can change the lives for some of these people, which is a good thing," she said.