Mental Health Awareness Month 2024
At part of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Court acknowledges the hard work being done by those working on the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities dockets. Judge Shannon M. Gallagher is chair of the dockets that also include of Judge Deena R. Calabrese, Judge Emily Hagan, Judge Timothy P. McCormick and Judge Michael P. Shaughnessy.
The MHDD docket began more that 20 year ago when the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, suburban court partners, and community stakeholders created the Mental Health Court Initiative. Together, they developed the Mental Health Court Docket model.
The focus of this collaboration was to identify existing programs and services that serve the severely mentally ill and developmentally disabled population; to identify the gaps in service, and expand resources; to enhance communication and training which ultimately provides efficient, effective, and consistent criminal response.
In 2010, the Mental Health Court was renamed to the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (MHDD) Court to better represent the population it serves.
The collaborative effort between the courts and community agencies has helped to provide improved care for the MHDD offenders while promoting increased safety for the community through therapeutic approaches and evidence-based practices.
The Court created a video spotlighting the MHDD Docket. The video highlights why the docket is so important, in the words of the people doing the work.