DeKalb County launches mental health court to steer misdemeanor defendants into treatment

Judge Brandon Cox, General Sessions juvenile court judge in DeKalb County, said the county launched a Mental Health Court in January to divert eligible misdemeanor, nonviolent defendants into court-supervised treatment rather than leaving mental health needs unaddressed in the jail system. “We started a mental health court in January,” Cox said on a local studio program.

The program is modeled on DeKalb’s recovery court and is grant-funded, Cox said. It accepts referrals from within the justice system—attorneys, probation staff, or case managers—and requires participants to enter a plea and be furloughed to the program. Cox described the approach as voluntary post-adjudication: participants choose the program and face the sentence if they do not complete it, which the court uses to encourage engagement with treatment.

Rachel Gillan, case manager for the mental health recovery court, outlined day-to-day support for participants: meeting frequency tied to program phase, medication checks and reminders, assistance getting into counseling and medication management, transportation, housing help and other services. “I count her meds,” Gillan said, describing a medication‑management check she performs for a participant.

Kate Arnold, coordinator for DeKalb County Recovery Court and the mental health court, said participants may move between recovery and mental health tracks if assessments indicate a different need. The court team includes a mental health cooperative, volunteer behavioral health resources and the local provider Haven of Hope, Arnold said, enabling more comprehensive support without requiring participants to travel out of the county.

Cox said the program will be measured by participants’ justice system involvement after graduation. He said recovery court data have been better than state and national averages but did not provide exact figures on the broadcast and asked that the organizers share precise statistics later. Cox also referenced a local jail survey by Justin Cantrell that, he said, suggested many detainees have mental health needs—“upwards of two‑thirds” may be undiagnosed and “better than a third” have a diagnosis—though he asked for the exact numbers to be provided later.

Program structure details announced on air: the mental health court uses a four‑phase model that takes at least a year to complete and often closer to 18 months, with six months of aftercare following graduation. Cox said the program had two participants enrolled at the time of the interview and organizers plan to publish recidivism and outcome statistics as they become available. He expressed hope the program will expand as demand and funding permit.

Organizers said the court seeks to reduce the “revolving door” into the justice system by meeting mental health needs locally and improving access to counseling, medication management and social supports. They urged people to contact program staff for further information and said they will share outcome data as it is collected.