Advocates Expands Jail Diversion Program to Hudson, Sudbury
Clinician to Partner with Police Departments on Responses to Mental Health Crises in Effort
to Reduce Arrests and Costly ER Hospitalizations While Providing Appropriate Treatments
Advocates, is a provider of services to individuals facing life challenges, today announced the expansion of its pre-arrest, co-responder Jail Diversion Program through a partnership with the Hudson and Sudbury police departments.
The pandemic took a toll on many of us, but some of the illness remained unseen. This accentuated the worth of our mental health clinician who proved more than ever how invaluable she is with assisting residents with substance abuse issues, those in a mental health crisis, social welfare issues and beyond.
The Jail Diversion program is in its 3rd year and provides a full-time Master’s Level Mental Health Clinician to respond alongside police officers to calls involving individuals who are experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, among other circumstances. The clinician, available to Hudson and Sudbury on a rotating basis, has been facilitating arrest diversions on the scene through treatment-based alternatives with the aim of reducing costly and unnecessary referrals to hospital emergency departments.
We thank to Our Lady of Fatima Community Outreach Ministry for their continued support of the program. A grant received through the Department of Mental Health will continue to provide funding for the program.
In 2020, our regional team was able to save an estimated cost of $617,920 between Arrest and Emergency Room Diversions combined. This translates to a total of 48 behavioral health conditions being diverted away from arrest and we decreased hospital emergency room referrals by 94 individuals with the JDP facilitating other recommendations. This program is proving itself as a great success and we are very fortunate to have Advocates working alongside us.
The police department sees many issues related to mental health and we expect there to be an increase as many of us adapt to new habits and how we cope with our individual situations. The Sudbury Police with the assistance of our Jail Diversion Clinician can provide resources to those in need.
If you have any questions, or need further information please email Lt. Detective John Perodeau
Sudbury Police Department at [email protected]