March is National Criminal Justice Month and advocacy groups are drawing attention to how people with mental illness are overrepresented in jails and prisons.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, 43% of people in state prisons and 44% of people in local jails have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. However, placing them behind bars may not be the best solution.

John Mitchell, mental health court judge in Kootenai County, said about half of the people in his caseload have some sort of mental health diagnosis, but noted jail does little to change their behavior.

"Unless you can figure out a way to help those people address their mental health concerns, ideally at the same time they get their chemical dependency treatment, they're just going to keep coming back," Mitchell observed.

Mitchell acknowledged jail can be necessary for a person's safety or the public's safety but it has not often been the case in his 22 years heading the mental health court. He meets with people in the court typically over two years, on a weekly basis to begin with, and said he plays the role of cheerleader and coach.

John Hall, group facilitator for NAMI Idaho, has been incarcerated and said he was living with undiagnosed and untreated mental health issues. He argued diversion programs like Mitchell's are a better alternative to sentencing and added it is important to educate people before they become incarcerated.

"They have an opportunity beforehand to change the course and direction of their life through the management of their diagnosis," Hall emphasized. "Or maybe their life choices or maybe the environment that they have been in for some time."

Hall also noted peer mentor programs within Idaho's jails and prisons are showing promising results for people who are incarcerated.

Mitchell stressed it is powerful to watch the people he works with change.

"To see somebody with those things stacked against them deal with all their issues all at once and succeed, it's one of the coolest things you can do as a judge," Mitchell observed.

Budding flowers, warmer temperatures and longer days are welcome signs to many in Maryland after the long, dark months of winter. Some people might believe warmer weather improves mental health after seasonal depression in the winter months, but that's not always the case. Many people experience increased mental-health struggles as spring rolls around.

When people's feeling in the springtime doesn't meet their expectations, said Cynthia Cubbage, director of family and post-adopt service for the Barker Adoption Foundation, it can make mental-health issues worse.

"When people are looking forward to spring because it's a time of renewal, and those expectations don't happen, and then nothing gets better for them because it's deeper than that," she said, "then they get really stressed and depression can really set in. And it's because of the expectations."

Suicide rates rise in the spring and not winter, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Researchers find that seasonal allergies play a role. A person with rhinitis, which causes allergy symptoms, is more than 40% more likely to be depressed.

Cubbage said there are many ways people can combat those feelings: Get outdoors as much as possible and get out socially as well. But she reminded folks that sleep is vital.

"Definitely prioritize sleep, even though we're having more daylight," she said. "It makes people want to stay up longer - that they should be doing things - and to remember that's a big transition for your body. They should still prioritize their sleep. If they were still going to sleep at eight or they were putting their kids down at eight, that should continue."

Cubbage added that, if you continue to feel depressed or down even after trying those suggestions, it's best to seek out professional mental-health help.

A bill headed to the Montana governor's desk would qualify post-traumatic stress disorder under workers' compensation for the state's first responders.

PTSD is a mental-health condition that someone may develop after a traumatic event. It can result in a range of symptoms from a negative mood and reactivity to flashbacks and difficulty sleeping. First responders report experiencing PTSD at about five times the rate of the general population, according to Relief Mental Health.

George Richards, who serves as president of both the Montana State Firefighters' Association and the Montana State Council of Professional Firefighters, said suicide is one of the top two leading causes of death among firefighters.

"Firefighters, police officers, paramedics, EMTs, experience - working on a gunshot victim or a fatality wreck or a kid death - major trauma-critical calls that really affect the brain," he said.

Richards said the bill had bipartisan support, although some opponents were concerned with the costs. The bill passed a House vote Friday, just before today's observance of Workers Memorial Day.

Until now, Montana was one of roughly a dozen states without a PTSD-related workers comp policy for first responders. Richards said treatment for PTSD will also help with worker retention.

"We want it recognized so they can get the treatment and return to work as a healthy individual with a clear mind," he said.

Treatment can take different forms, Richards noted, from peer-to-peer support to residential treatment programs.


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A new report finds that Maryland has made progress in providing school mental health services to its students but work still remains. The report by the national mental health advocacy organization, Inseparable, measures states based on 13 policy targets.

Maryland has improved its ratio of social workers to students. There is one social worker for every 620 students - a decline from more than 2,300 students in previous years. But the state has not implemented, or only partially implemented, five policies, such as expanding Medicaid coverage to include school-based mental health services.

Caitlin Hochul, vice president of public policy with Inseparable, said providing mental health services in schools has major impacts on students and parents alike.

"You're reducing the financial strain on parents," she explained. "You're reducing the need for reliable transportation. You don't need to be taking a lot of time off of school to go travel to an appointment, so it really helps give kids the resources and tools they need to get back in the classroom and learn."

Maryland also lacks mental health screenings of students, a tool that advocates say is critical to identify potential mental health issues.

The Maryland state legislature recently passed laws geared toward bolstering the behavioral health workforce. One law made school mental health professionals eligible for the state's loan repayment plan, and another created a state workforce development program for mental health professionals.

Sen. Malcolm Augustine, D-Prince George's County, said a focus of the state legislature has been working to bring - and keep - mental health professionals in the state.

"It's challenging right now for us to attract and retain these folks," he said. "It's a global issue, so we are trying to do our very best to create opportunities for them to have their loans repaid, opportunities for them to grow professionally, in the hopes that we'll be able to retain and grow our own."

Maryland lawmakers also passed laws requiring education and health agencies to provide guidelines for student telehealth appointments on school days.