Kankakee County

Building Blocks - as an Evidence-based Diversion Program, Building Blocks Provides Participants in Kankakee County, Illinois With Accountability, Structure and Access to Treatment. Assessed and Diagnosed With a Mental Health or Co-occurring Disorders, Participants Are High Risk for Arrest. They Progress in a Voluntary Continuum of Residential, Outpatient, Medically Assisted And/or Aftercare Treatment, Enhanced by Case Management, Self-help, Education, and Community Support (up to 750 Days). the Overarching Goal Is to Divert Individuals With Mental Health Needs From Arrest and the Criminal Justice System, While Minimizing Recidivism Amongst Participants. Building Capacity Annually, the Program Will Serve 15 Participants in Year One and Expand to 60 Participants by Year Five. Building Block’s Goals in Year One Focuses on Capacity Building by Identifying Resources, Hiring Staff, Completing a Sequential Intercept Map and Creating a No-wrong-door Point of Entry Plan. Year Two Through Five Goals Become Qualitative in Nature, Informed by the Year One Sequential Intercept Map Resources Identification and Developed Recovery-oriented, Trauma-informed, and Equity-based Baseline Measures. in Partnership With Kankakee County Dispatch, Building Blocks Will Deploy a Cross-trained Law Enforcement Team With Behavioral Health Experts to Meet With Individuals During a Crisis. Using the Columbia Scale for Assessment and Iris Referral System Management, the Team Deescalate Situations and Create Warm Hand-offs With Community Treatment Providers. the Building Blocks’ Social Worker Will Provide Wrap-around Life Skills, Vocational, Education and Follow-up Support. Building Blocks First Admissions Will Focus on Population Health Frequent Fliers Whom Regularly Present to Law Enforcement, Social Service Agencies and Area Hospitals. Located in Northeastern Illinois, Kankakee County Is a 677 Square Mile Area With a 110,024 Population (70% Caucasian, 15% Black, and 11% Hispanic), a 50/50 Male/female Split and English/spanish as the Primary/secondary Language. the County Median Income Is $61,664 (u.s. Census, 2022) With a Poverty Rate of 13.4%. in 2022, Riverside Medical Center Provided 1,551 Adult Mental Health Hospitalizations and 3,135 Adult Intensive Outpatient Treatment Sessions (riverside Medical Center Stat Report, 2023).