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Judge, public defenders and advocates: Alameda’s mental‑health diversion court lacks clinicians
Summary
Judge Della Piana and public‑defender staff told supervisors the Mental Health Diversion Court operates without assigned clinical staff, delaying treatment plans and prolonging custody; county staff estimated a clinician costs roughly $200,000/year and said they are exploring reassignments, grant funding and staffing mixes to address the gap.
Judicial and defense officials told Alameda County supervisors that the Mental Health Diversion Court — a central pillar of efforts to keep people with serious mental illness out of jail — has no assigned clinical staff, a shortfall they said is delaying assessments and treatment referrals.
“As the assigned judge, I am the person who has the bird’s eye view ... and I wanted to highlight that the lack of clinical staff is something this body should be paying close attention to,” Judge Della Piana said, noting clinical absence affects assessment timeliness, the quality of treatment plans and victim participation in the court process.
Public defenders and the county’s justice partners described immediate operational consequences. Stephanie Regula, supervisor of the public defender’s mental health unit, noted that state diversion funding (DSH diversion) may provide sustained resources — including clinicians and data staff — if county contract negotiations conclude. “That permanent funding would be significant,” she said, describing a proposed $1,000,000 per year allocation for Justice Partners over five years in the DSH contract that has not yet been signed.
Behavioral Health director Dr. Karen Tribble estimated the cost of a single clinician at about $200,000 per year and said the county is exploring how to combine existing forensic, diversion and reentry resources to support mental‑health diversion needs. “We’ve been thinking internally what we can do — where do we have existing staff we can support with,” she said.
Why this matters: diversion courts aim to trade short jail stays for treatment and community supervision. Without clinicians assigned to the court, defense lawyers and case managers must find external evaluators, which can lengthen custody time and reduce the chances that eligible people enroll in diversion programs in a timely fashion.
Supervisors and community advocates urged interim steps: reassign clinicians from other diversion courts, expand use of social workers for non‑clinical case navigation, and expedite grant and county funding decisions. The committees asked Behavioral Health and court partners to return with detailed staffing proposals, cost scenarios and timelines for placing clinicians in the diversion court.
The meeting did not produce immediate funding approvals; departments said they will pursue multiple avenues, including existing BHSA funds, grant matches and Measure‑linked allocations, and report back with concrete recommendations.
