Nine Years of Stepping Up: Reflections on County Progress and Pathways Toward Success

As Stepping Up celebrates its 9th anniversary, the national Stepping Up partners-The Council of State Governments Justice Center, the National Association of Counties, and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation-will reflect on the initiative’s successes in safely addressing the overincarceration of people with mental illness and improving connections to treatment and services in counties across the country. In partnership with the Center for Effective Public Policy, the Stepping Up partners will preview what lays ahead for the initiative so that counties can continue advancing their goals for improved justice system and behavioral health outcomes regardless of where they are in their Stepping Up efforts. A series of listening sessions and a feedback tool will follow this webinar so that Stepping Up stakeholders, including but not limited to agency program staff and administrators; advocates; and people with lived experience in the justice and behavioral health systems, can share their experiences with and recommendations for Stepping Up. As a result, the Stepping Up partners will ensure that recommended pathways toward success are most reflective of counties’ goals and capacity.