Diversion & Recidivism

Positive outcomes for justice-involved youth through the implementation of the Duval County Diversion System of Care

Serving children and families alongside Kids Hope Alliance with a robust system of care for mental health and trauma resilience.

The Jacksonville System of Care Initiative

In 2010, Jacksonville received a $9 million dollar grant from the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) to facilitate the transformation of Northeast Florida’s mental health services into a system of care that integrates home and community-based services and supports for youth with serious emotional disturbances. The Partnership for Child Health implements this cooperative agreement by using existing agencies and joint ventures with other community stakeholders and initiatives, the System of Care focuses on improving access and assuring that services to all children and youth, specifically those in the child welfare, juvenile justice, subsidized childcare, and homeless systems, are family-driven, youth-guided and culturally responsive.

The over-arching objectives for the six-year grant period are to:

  • Expand community capacity to serve children and adolescents identified with serious emotional disturbances by utilizing a public health framework to screen and assess all children and youth for behavioral health issues and refer appropriately for treatment;
  • Increase the community capacity to provide a broad array of accessible, clinically effective and fiscally accountable services, treatments and supports for children and families;
  • Provide for the integration of physical and behavioral health through the development of the pediatric/psychiatric collaborative care model;
  • Implement authentic participation of families and youth in the development, evaluation and sustainability of local services and supports and in overall system transformation activities;
  • Serve as a catalyst for broad-based, sustainable systemic change inclusive of policy reform and infrastructure development.

For the past six years, the Jacksonville System of Care Initiative and its community partners have worked with youth and families to achieve these objectives. Our notable accomplishments are featured in the end of grant report titled "Solid Tracks for Development" published in October 2016 including:

Community-based Programs

Medical Home

The Medical Home concept is to ensure that all children, specifically children in our targeted populations (foster care, homeless) have their medical, dental and behavioral health needs identified and addressed through a coordinated system of care. <Read more>

Collaborative Care Model

The System of Care partners with the community to develop and implement the pediatric/psychiatric collaborative care model. The purpose of the collaborative care concept is to increase the quantity and quality of the mental health service capacity through training pediatricians to identify signs of depression and suicide risk, determine appropriate treatment, and know when/where to refer. This year’s expansion will include training pediatricians on screening for social and emotional wellness in children under 5 years of age. <Read more>

High Fidelity Wraparound Care Coordination

High-fidelity wraparound is an intensive, holistic method of engaging with individuals with complex needs (most typically children, youth, and their families) so that they can live in their homes and communities and realize their hopes and dreams.

High-fidelity wraparound is an intensive, individualized care planning and management process. This wraparound process aims to achieve positive outcomes by providing a structured, creative and individualized team planning process that, compared to traditional treatment planning, results in plans that are more effective and more relevant to the child and family. 

Wraparound’s philosophy of care begins from the principle of “voice and choice,” which stipulates that the perspectives of the family—including the child or youth—must be given primary importance during all phases and activities of wraparound. The values associated with wraparound further require that the planning process itself, as well as the services and supports provided, should be individualized, family driven, culturally competent, and community based.

Trauma Informed Care

The Partnership for Child Health supports the collaboration of our community partners to address unresolved trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences to promote healing and build resilience in children and families. <Read more>