Mental illness doesn’t have to be a life sentence. Offenders with mental disabilities can be successfully re-engaged with their communities—when courts, corrections, probation, halfway and transition services, and mental health professionals work together. This important new book maps out a very specific set of strategies, responsibilities, program features, and guidelines that can guarantee a successful return to a productive life for offenders. 

Now find help in designing and implementing effective reentry planning and aftercare specifically for offenders with mental disabilities …

• How much programming for the mentally disabled does the law now require?  Are you better off doing the legal minimum or going the extra distance to provide first-rate services and programs?
• How can you take advantage of grants and other funding now available under the “Second Chance Act” to get the resources you need?
• What is the role of advocacy lawyers and judges in the re-integration of offenders? What sentencing strategies make the courts part of the solution, not part of the problem?
• What assessment tools are available and effective in tailoring a reentry plan for the mentally disabled offender?  Why aren’t psychological assessments alone sufficient and what other types of instruments play an important and constructive purpose? Who should perform these assessments? 
• What features does a comprehensive and effective continuity-of-treatment plan include? What are the specific aftercare responsibilities of counseling psychologists?  Psychiatrists and physicians?  Transitional services? Social workers?  Probation officers? 
• How can you ensure that a reentering offender is able to pay for treatment?
• How are co-occurring substance abuse problems best dealt with in a comprehensive re-entry plan?