Improving the Court and Community Response to Individuals Experiencing Mental Illness

In 2022, the Judicial Branch and its Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) convened a multidisciplinary Mental Health Team, led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon J. MacDonald and AOC Director Dianne Martin, to address the intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system at a systems level in New Hampshire. Also in 2022, the Judicial Branch created a full-time Mental Health and Wellness Coordinator position to facilitate health and wellness initiatives for staff and judicial officers.   

The Judicial Branch Mental Health Team established three goals.  The first was to convene a Statewide Mental Health Summit, which occurred in June 2023. The second was to conduct a survey of Judicial Branch employees about the training and professional development they felt necessary to serve individuals with mental illness and/or substance use disorders coming into the court system. The survey was conducted in July 2023. The third goal was to conduct Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) mapping workshops in each of New Hampshire’s ten counties.  In February 2023, the Judicial Branch engaged the services of the National Center for State Courts to conduct a pilot SIM mapping workshop for Merrimack County.  That workshop took place over two days in April 2023.  In August 2023, the Statewide Treatment Court Coordinator, Mental Health & Wellness Coordinator, and others were trained by Policy Research Associates, Inc. to conduct SIM mapping workshops in the remaining counties.  Throughout 2024, the SIM workshops have been conducted across the state, with the Judicial Branch Mental Health and Wellness Coordinator partnering with other stakeholders to facilitate. The SIM workshops will continue through the first half of 2025. Once the SIM are completed in all counties across the state, the Mental Health Team will convene to review the outcome and identify new goals.

Mental Health Team members include:

• Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald (Chair)
• AOC Director Dianne Martin (Chair)
• Christopher Brackett, Superintendent, Strafford County Dept. of Corrections
• Alex Casale, Statewide Treatment Court Coordinator
• Major Russell Conte (retired), New Hampshire State Police Mental Health & Wellness Coordinator
• Katja Fox, Director, NH Dept. of Health & Human Services, Division of Behavioral Health
• Hon. Ryan C. Guptill, Circuit Court Judge
• Commissioner Helen E. Hanks, NH Dept. of Corrections
• Hon. Mark Howard, Chief Justice of the Superior Court
• Hon. Barbara A.M. Maloney, Circuit Court Judge
• Hon. Tina L. Nadeau, former Chief Justice of the Superior Court
• Ken Norton, former Executive Director, NAMI NH
• Emily Gray Rice, Manchester City Solicitor
• Susan Stearns, Executive Director, NAMI NH.

The full-time Mental Health and Wellness Coordinator provides staff support to the team.