THE WHO, WHAT, AND HOW OF INTERAGENCY CRIMINAL JUSTICE-BEHAVIORAL HEALTH TEAMS: Developing and Sustaining...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Criminal Justice Reform
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Interagency teams are an evidence-based practice, yet under-researched in criminal justice (CJ) and behavioral health (BH) reform.
• Understanding the composition, functions, and effective strategies for these teams is crucial for successful reform efforts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the composition and activities of CJ-BH interagency teams.
• To identify effective strategies for building and sustaining successful CJ-BH interagency collaborations.
• To explore the relationship between team-building strategies and collaboration development.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative interviews with 52 BH and CJ leaders.
• Survey data from 791 BH and CJ leaders across the United States.
• Analysis of team composition, activities, and strategic effectiveness.

Main Results:

• CJ-BH interagency teams include diverse agencies from CJ, BH, social services, and health sectors.
• Teamwork primarily focuses on client resource connection and supporting CJ-BH coalitions.
• Learning from other agencies and system integration significantly correlated with increased collaboration; consensus-building did not.

Conclusions:

• CJ-BH interagency teams are multi-sectoral, focusing on resource linkage and coalition support.
• Effective team building involves inter-agency learning and system integration, not necessarily pre-collaboration consensus.
• Collaboration can foster shared goals and vision over time, suggesting flexibility in initial team formation.