Mental Health Court Diversion Program

The Mental Health Court Diversion Program (the Program) offers a tailored response for individuals whose offending is linked to mental illness.

Program participants are supervised by a Court while they receive holistic support that addresses the underlying causes of their offending behaviour. This approach aims to enhance participants’ health and wellbeing, improve community safety, reduce repeat offending and, where appropriate, provide an alternative to imprisonment.

There are separate programs for adults and children: 

• The Start Court - adult program 
• Links - children program 

The Program is a partnership between the Mental Health Commission and the Department of Justice. The other agencies that contribute to the Program are:

• The Department of Health 
• The Department of Corrective Services
• WA Police
• Legal Aid WA
• Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS)
• Outcare Inc. (a Non-Government service provider)
• Mental Health Law Centre.

Evaluation 

The Program was independently evaluated in 2014. The evaluation made a number of positive findings, including that the Program is operating in accordance with good practice and is highly valued by participants, their families and carers, and stakeholders within the justice system. A summary of the 2014 evaluation can be found here. A further review in 2015 found positive outcomes and can be found here.