McCracken County opens Mental Health Court for recovery support | News

MCCRACKEN COUNTY, Ky. — Mental Health Court officially launched in McCracken County, bridging the gap between the justice system and mental health services.

The goal of Mental Health Court is to connect defendants with mental health issues to treatment instead of jail time, ultimately reducing repeat offenses. The new program differs from Drug Court. Mental Health Court serves people with mental health issues, while Drug Court focuses on those struggling primarily with addiction.

McCracken County Chief Circuit Court Judge W.A. Kitchen said at the McCracken Bar Association on May 19 that the Mental Health Court will remove all barriers to recovery.

“I am measuring success by: are they taking their medications as prescribed? Are they staying with their housing? Are they out causing mischief someplace? And if they’re not, right now, I’m treating that as a success,” Kitchen said. 

Kitchen also said the goal of the court is to identify candidates as early as possible, ideally at their preliminary hearing, to get them into treatment. He mentioned that the program will be a minimum of six months.

“If they’re successful at completing mental health court, we’ll dismiss the charges,” Kitchen said. “If they’re not, then we have to go back and start again.”

Once the defendant is prosecuted, they are ordered to receive treatment at a Mental Health Court-approved provider in McCracken County, which includes Four Rivers Behavioral Health in Paducah. Pam Owen, site administrator for adult services at Four Rivers Behavioral Health, said the first thing staff does is assess what services are needed.

“Depending on what that assessment shows, they’re referred to mental health services for individual therapy; they might be referred for medication management services,” Owen said. “We have medical services here, and if it’s necessary, we have case managers who serve severely mentally ill adults and children. In this case, adults could be referred to a peer support specialist, Turning Point, or any number of services, whatever will fit what they need.”

She said that intervention after incarceration is important so that people are aware of the services available to help them. 

“I find that we do have people who come in here, and they are in and out of jail a lot, and if there were some type of intervention, besides just releasing them back on the street, if there was someone to help them get integrated back on this in the regular living in society, as opposed to being incarcerated, it would definitely be a benefit,” Owen said.

Owen said she has seen the program work firsthand. She said Mental Health Court has allowed her participant to grow and learn another way to live besides continually being arrested.

“I have a participant who was in jail for a couple of years, and through this program, she was able to be released from jail into housing,” Owen said. “The case manager at the court system set her up with services at a physician’s office here at Four Rivers, and our medical services and they are expected to volunteer or get a job and also attend meetings, and this support that has been provided by the court system and her other medical providers on the team.”

The court is one of 10 new Mental Health Courts launching this year as part of a statewide expansion. It collaborates with law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and treatment providers to support individuals facing charges.