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New Mental Health Court works to keep people out of jail

Horry Independent, The (Conway, SC) - 2/13/2016

Most of the clients of the Horry County Mental Health Court were praised lavishly this past week, but at least one, who was already dressed for the occasion, was sent off to serve nine months in jail.

And so it goes with the nascent court, a few failures, but mostly successes as the court committee works to keep people out of jail by assisting them in learning to deal with their mental health issues.

Court officials say the mental health court, which meets once a week at the Horry County Detention Center, sprang from the highly-successful drug court that now has about 100 participants and scads of graduates after 10 years of monitoring its clients and offering them all kinds of help to beat their drug problems, all the while holding their jail sentences over their heads as extra incentive.

Drug Court and Mental Health Court director Candy DeBusk said she noticed early on that some of the people in the drug court had mental health issues that led to their drug abuse, but the drug court simply was not set up to help them.

That changed in June when the mental health court held its first session.

DeBusk says she's already seen some people with severe anxiety have big changes in their attitudes.

"There's obvious improvement," she said.

The most common conditions the mental health court has been dealing with are anxiety, schizophrenia, posttraumatic stress syndrome, depression and bipolar disorder.

Improvement was apparent to court workers for several of the clients who appeared before Mental Health Court Judge Aaron Butler recently as the first man up was declared to be doing well, continuing his group therapy and holding down a job.

The second client was told he was doing so well with his individual and group therapy, working at his job and passing his drug tests that he could get rid of his electronic monitor and cut the frequency of his court appearances.

"See," Butler told him, "good things happen when you do good things."

But court officials say, warnings and minor penalties like being ordered to complete some community service and spending a week in jail weren't enough to keep one man in line with the program.

Monica Wooten, the court's prosecutor, told Butler that the young man had missed mental health meetings, failed to be home during bed checks, tested positive for alcohol, marijuana and opiates, tried to beat drug tests by diluting his urine samples and missed required treatment sessions.

In an impassioned plea, the man apologized saying he had taken for granted all the kindness and support the court team had offered him.

He said he had been using drugs for 14 years and, previously, didn't want to change.

Now, he said, he wants to do better and be better, and if he was terminated he'd have no one to blame but himself.

He said if he was given another chance he'd move out of the apartment where he lives and has been exposed to drug use.

"I am finally prepared to take this program seriously," he said, adding that he wants to live not only a sober, but a Godly life.

Butler told him, "I think you are sincere...You've got to work at it; you've got to want it."

He also told him that when he finishes his jail time he can reapply to the mental health court and officials there will work to help him become a productive citizen.

"...but you've got to want it," he said.

Wooten says she saw right away working with the Solicitor's Office that attention to mental health issues was needed. She was so excited about the new court that she volunteered to work with it.

The court has strict guidelines for a client's success. Clients must be home for bed checks and to take calls from court officials, they must pass drug tests, take their prescribed medications, report to court once a week, go to mental health counseling and group therapy. As they move from phase one to four, clients are given more freedom.

Each phase takes four months, but due to the program's newness, no one has progressed to phase four yet. Two of the court's 14 clients are in phase three, which means there should be one or two graduates within the next six months, according to Wooten.

The court prosecutor says she thinks the court is going well so far and will continue to grow just like the drug court has.

So far, two people have been terminated, which she classifies as a lose-lose situation.

But, she says, when clients make enough mistakes, the court has to remove them, at least to show other clients that there are consequences if they don't take the program seriously.

Sgt. Regina Strickland, who works with the jail's diversion program and helps out in the Mental Health Court says she sees the program as a lifesaver for people who take it seriously. She says DeBusk and her team have looked at every angle.

She says the clients are in the criminal justice system, so obviously they don't have the best judgment, but she's seen the court change their demeanor.

"When we get their mental health issues right, truly jail would not have been the right place for them," she said.

In drug court, clients can have as much as 15 years of jail time held over their heads, but the maximum for a mental health client is 10 years.

Everyone agrees it's a happy day when people embrace the opportunity and show changes in their lives.

"We don't do anything. The clients do, but we're proud for the client," Strickland said.

Butler, who was appointed by the Chief Justice of the S.C. Supreme Court to the judge's position with the mental health court, says dealing with the mental health clients feels like old times for him.

He worked with S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation for 27 years and says he has a passion to help the court's clients.

"It's been very good. It's been reminding me of my old days," the judge said.

He said the increase of crimes committed by people with mental health issues has made the court necessary.

But he can be firm when it's necessary.

"I do believe in second chances, but to the point where you are trying to use the system, I don't," he said.

Both DeBusk and Butler see the biggest needs of the court now as more impatient treatment and more housing, some type of halfway housing where clients can stay during their treatment would be ideal.

Butler said mental health is a big problem all over the country due to too few places that provide services.

He said unless people have insurance that will pay for services, mental health patients are in for a few days and then back out in the community.

DeBusk credits the collaboration of the Solicitor's Office, the Horry County Sheriff's Office, the jail staff and mental health workers for the program's early success.

"The sheriff (Phillip Thompson) was one of the biggest supporters of the program. He's been wanting to do something for awhile and Solicitor (Jimmy) Richardson, he definitely was behind it," she said.

DeBusk also likes the speed of the program, adding that they try to get clients in to see a psychiatrist within seven days of joining the program.

"Mental health court allows us to be able to address clients that need to be on meds and monitor that and make sure they are being compliant. We're checking on them constantly..." she said.

In addition to housing, DeBusk would be like to secure some transportation for the mental health court clients so she's seeking volunteers now. Some people can't be admitted into the program because they can't get there, she said.

She says she can also use some administrative help in the court, if anyone wants to volunteer. She says jail chaplain Eddie Hill can also use help from people who can help clients prepare to take the GED.

Housing, she believes, remains the biggest needs. She points to Charleston where several beds are dedicated just for mental health patients in a public shelter.

She, too, believes that the program is scoring success with some clients.

But she acknowledges that there will always been some failures.

She says the best advice she's gotten in that area is from someone who pointed out to her that she can't take credit for the clients' successes and she can't take blame for their failures.

"If you do, it'll eat you up. That's kind of how I've tried to look at it," she said.

Instead of looking at the failures, she tries to focus on the successes. Between the drug court and mental health court she has at least 100 clients.

"They do need my attention. They are still here and you have to focus on them," she said.

Everything considered, DeBusk says she loves her job.

"I've always felt very honored, and I would say blessed, to be able to have a job that I have whether it is the drug court or mental health court. It's amazing to have a job that you feel like you actually have the ability to help people and be part of the program that changes the way the criminal justice program is set up," she said.