Grant Details

The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) seeks to fund programs that support collaborations to improve public safety responses and outcomes for people with mental health disorders (MHDs) or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (MHSUDs). The goal is to improve safety and well-being for adults with MHDs (including people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)) or MHSUDs who come into contact with the criminal justice system. BJA supports grants to help eligible entities plan, implement, or expand comprehensive collaboration programs to target people who qualify.

In FY2025, funding will be distributed across three funding categories:

• Category 1: Local and County Government Justice and Behavioral Health Collaboration
• Category 2: Tribal Government Justice and Behavioral Health Collaboration
• Category 3: State Government Justice and Behavioral Health Collaboration

For FY25, JMHCP will concentrate on pretrial, prosecution/defense, courts, probation/parole, and the needs of adults with behavioral health disorders who are homeless, particularly those who come in contact with the justice system. Applications should address these focus areas in the project description and must show collaboration between criminal justice and mental health agencies. 

BJA will make site-based awards for grantees to pursue the following objectives across all three categories:

• Increase the community's workforce capacity (i.e. certified mental health peer recovery specialists and behavioral health clinicians) along with wraparound services to support people with behavioral health disorders.
• Improve the capacity to identify and support people with behavioral health needs in the justice system.
• Enhance collaboration between justice and mental health programs focusing on pretrial, prosecution/defense, courts, corrections, probation and parole.
• Increase capacity building for criminal justice professionals to identify and provide support to people with behavioral health disorders (including people with TBI and PTSD)
• For Category 1 and 2 (Local, Tribal, and County Governments) only:
  • Improve programs for individuals with mental health and substance use conditions to prevent further justice system involvement
  • Create best practices for case management and specialized supervision
  • Workforce Development and Training
  • Data Tracking and Continuous Improvement
  • Community Engagement and Trust Building 
  • Involvement of Behavioral Health Experts 
  • Addressing the Needs of Correctional Facilities 
• For category 3 (State Governements) only:
  • Improve access to treatment using frameworks and toolkits for effective funding strategies developed under BJA's Aligning Health and Safety Initiative and training and technical assistance (TTA), specifically designed to address effective and efficient public and private financing (e.g. Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, increasing use of Medicaid, and private billing for providers) when caring for people with behavioral health disorders.
  • Support state-level policies to enhance local engagement and access to care.
  • Establish multidisciplinary task forces for systemic change in court responses.
  • Promote cross-system data collection for better service collaboration.
  • Enhance competency evaluation and restoration processes for individuals in the justice system.