Blog on leading on report on improving community mental health support in the criminal justice system

I am very privileged to be part of the RR3 Special Interest Group (SIG) on Community Provision, in my role as the Mental Health expert at the Reducing Reoffending Advisory Third Sector Advisory Group (https://www.clinks.org/our-work/policy#RR3). With extremely valuable support from Clinks, I co-led a workshop with colleagues from the criminal justice sector (28 organisations contributed) and heard their direct experiences, including challenges, of providing services to individuals within the criminal justice pathway. This work led to the first report of the SIG, on mental health treatment within the community for this population which can be read at RR3 Special Interest Group on Community Provision 2024-25 – Report 1.pdf. A second report on drug and alcohol treatment services will follow.

There were some key findings from the report that I wanted to reflect on. Unfortunately, there was no surprise that funding, or rather the lack of, continues to be a key issue, leading to a postcode lottery and diminished treatment capacity. We have been observing that in our experiences, commissioning approaches are not joined up when needed. Services are funded for a limited time despite the great positive impact they make in people’s lives and financial systems may be inaccessible for some organisations, especially for smaller ones. We know that despite the funding challenges, voluntary sector organisations are often expected to pick up statutory services’ responsibilities and their importance shouldn’t be underestimated.

The report comments on the ongoing challenge those from racially minoritised communities face, as they are disproportionally represented in the criminal justice system. Evidence was provided on the barriers those communities still face in accessing services and the biases they experience from the systems they live within. Racial disparities within sentencing are still an issue and services are not culturally-informed and adjusted to the individual’s needs, often restricting access to different communities. We see the complexity and prevalence of mental health needs for those in the criminal justice system continuously increasing, while the service provision not meeting this need.

The report calls for early intervention to support people, ensuring appropriateness of service delivery and person-centred approaches. It is key that all of us in the voluntary sector continue working towards amplifying the voice and learning from the lived experience of the people who use our services that we work alongside. We need to continue to provide evidence about the amazing work we do on the ground and the outcomes we support people to achieve. It goes without saying that the Government needs to keep engaging with us to understand our challenges and be willing to adjust policies and funding streams based on the existing landscape of need.