Shawnee County to place therapists in community corrections under federal mental-health grant

Shawnee County commissioners on April 21 approved service agreements to integrate mental-health providers into Community Corrections under a federal Second Chance Act grant and authorized hiring in-house therapists to provide assessments and treatment to probationers.

Steve Willis, head of the Department of Corrections overseeing Community Corrections, told commissioners the county supervises about 680 adult probationers at a time and that roughly 20% of revocations last year were linked to mental-health issues. “This is a really great day for Community Corrections and really the community,” Willis said, describing the three-year grant and the work the department has done to prepare policies and an implementation guide to meet federal assurances.

Willis named two therapists planned for in-house placement, Zanea Armstead and Daniel Martin, and said the county will provide free mental-health assessments and treatment to probationers who need them. “We will soon be able to provide free mental health assessments and free mental health treatment to our probationers who need that,” Willis said.

Daniel Martin, one of the therapists, described his background in social work and operating Oxford Houses that support people returning from jail or treatment. Zanea Armstead said she is a mental-health therapist in private practice in Topeka.

The board approved two service contracts, C167-2025 with Epic LLC and C168-2025 with Working Together LLC, to integrate both providers into the supervision process as part of the Community Corrections Mental Health Initiative. Willis said the initiative was developed with assistance from county audit and finance staff and department personnel and that training and documentation were required to satisfy federal grant requirements.

The contracts were approved with the motion by Commissioner Aaron Mays and second by Commissioner Kevin Cook; the board announced the result as 2 to 0. Willis said the contracts and therapist placements are intended to reduce recidivism by addressing underlying mental-health and substance-use issues.

Ending Department of Corrections staff will proceed to implement the grant-funded program and onboard the named therapists; the county indicated reporting and compliance steps will follow federal grant requirements.