NAMI Ask the Expert: Suicide in Pretrial Detention and Expanding the Crisis Care Continuum

Pretrial detention is a high-risk time for people with mental illness. Over half of the people in U.S. jails are detained pretrial; they not been convicted of any crime, are awaiting further court proceedings, and are presumed innocent. The suicide rate of pretrial detainees is three times higher than the jail population who have been convicted and ten times higher than the general population. Using the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) as a guide, many communities have invested in developing crisis care systems that divert people in a mental health crisis away from jails and into community-based care. Join us to learn more about how SIM reflects pathways to community-based behavioral health treatment both as a diversion from law enforcement interaction and as a post-release community reentry strategy.