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Oregon Health Authority

Diversion Services

Placing individuals where they can receive the care they need

Diversion Services assist individuals who due to serious and persistent mental illness, neurocognitive conditions or developmental disability are facing prosecution for a non-violent felony or misdemeanor. 

  • Instead of placing individuals in the Oregon State Hospital, jail or prison, Diversion Services seek to place individuals in community-based programs where they can receive the care their condition requires. 
  • The goal is for individuals, through adequate care, to stop repeat behavior that ends in processing by the criminal justice system.

​OHA is collaborating with the Oregon Department of Public Safety, Standards, and Training (DPSST) and Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Inc. (GOBHI), to establish the Oregon Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence (CIT​COE)​. 

CITCOE’s mission is to develop and maintain partnerships with Oregon criminal justice and behavioral health agencies, organizations and service providers in order to develop and maintain a network to criminal justice and behavioral health professionals, behavioral health advocates, and consumers to promote excellence in law enforcement-behavioral health training throughout Oregon.​​

CITs ​are pre-booking jail diversion programs that aim to provide people in mental health crisis the care they need instead of incarceration. Many Community Mental Health Programs in collaboration with local law enforcement agencies have established CIT programs across the state to de-escalate crisis situations involving individuals with serious mental illness. 

CIT programs help to reduce officer and consumer injuries, reduce the arrests of people with mental illness, and increase referrals to treatment for people with mental illness. CITs respond to behavioral health crises in the community. ​

Jail diversion services support individuals who are:

  • Living with serious and persistent mental illness and

  • Charged with a crime (non-violent felony or misdemeanor).

Jail diversion helps these individuals access behavioral health services in their community. It also helps them avoid:

  • Admission to the Oregon State Hospital,

  • Incarceration, probation, or institutionalization, and

  • Ongoing involvement with the criminal justice system.

CMHPs provide these services in partnership with local jurisdictions. Intensive Services oversees the funds CMHPs can access to provide these services. ​​



Resources

URL
  
Behavioral Health Criminal Justice Summit Attendance
Behavioral Health Criminal Justice Summit Report with Appendices
GOBHI Presents Sequential Intercept Mapping Workshops
Restoration to Competency Kit - Patient Workbook
Save the Date - 7th Annual Northwest Regional CIT Conference
Sequential Intercepts for Developing CJ-MH Partnerships