Conversations with the Field

PTACC, in partnership with the First Responder’s Network, released a series of webinars speaking with experts in particular fields. These webinars are now available in their entirety and can be viewed below.

Deflection: Connecting People in Communities of Color to Treatment/Services in the Best Possible Way

The focus of this PTACC Conversation with the Field led by the Community, Diversity, and Equity Strategy Area is healing relationships between law enforcement, and black and brown communities, avoiding stigmatization of people and organizations, and options for communities such as EMS/Social Work responses to non-violent community calls, with a priority on connecting people to treatment, housing, services, and resources to meet their needs in the best way possible for that person.

Taking it to the Streets — Treatment Housing and Recovery During COVID

PTACC (Police, Treatment and Community Collaborative) invites you to the second in a series of Seminars featuring the latest informative output from it’s 7 core strategy areas. Next week’s program will feature the latest output from the Treatment, Housing and Recovery strategy areas. The 90-minute discussion will examine the current COVID landscape with respect to its impact on criminal justice deflection systems at a community level. The panel of nationally recognized experts from law enforcement, behavioral treatment and recovery services will discuss challenges in community recovery support systems that COVID has impacted as well as potential solutions at a policy and funding level. Additionally, the panel will discuss the ongoing migration at a national policy level from a focus on abstinence alone to recovery services and its impact on deflection and the systems that support the process.

Deflection and Pre-Arrest Diversion: Choosing the Right Technology for Your Program

Data are critical to understanding the individual- and community-level impacts of deflection and pre-arrest diversion programs over time. The Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC) invites you to the third in a series of “Conversations with the Field,” which will showcase four companies that provide software for deflection and pre-arrest software sites. These are the first four IT organizations to develop deflection software specifically for the field. Panelists will preview and provide information on software that allows program managers to enhance data collection and analysis that helps to inform the delivery of deflection services. Following the presentation, participants will have the opportunity to have a real-time conversation with these deflection software and data collection experts, several of whom are also the research partners for their sites.

First Responder Leadership in Enhancing Deflection, Ensuring Racial and Ethnic Parity, and Facilitating Collaboration with Community-based Partners and Stakeholders

The PTACC Public Safety Strategy Workgroup hosted a roundtable discussion on the importance of collaboration among police, treatment providers, and the community in the practice of deflection and pre-arrest diversion. Featuring three panelists currently engaged in this work, the discussion focused on their shared front line experiences that correlate to the Public Safety Strategy Workgroup’s focus areas of 1) first responders and behavioral health partner collaboration; 2) ensuring equity in all aspects of deflection/diversion, including treatment; and 3) authentic law enforcement engagement with program partners and stakeholders, as well as with the community they serve.

Standing Up For The Children

Hosted by the PTACC Children and Family Strategy Area, this “Conversation with the Field” will focus on those closest to the identified person being considered for attempts at deflection – their children and families – who have all struggled with and been hurt by the addiction that is destroying their family and who all need support to heal. Addiction travels from generation to generation, and the trauma it engenders travels with it. Arresting a sick person, whether addicted or struggling with mental illness, costs society immeasurably – often for many years. In the meantime, the children — who are the first hurt and last helped — lose a parent, their home, bread on the table and live in a life of increasing fear. The chronic emotional stress they live with on a daily basis impacts their developing brains, further handicapping their ability to recover from a parent’s addiction. Yet, they are not on the agenda at deflection time.

Let’s Talk About Research: The Key to any Great Program

In this conversation with the field, we heard from researchers about the importance of measurements, program evaluability, and outcomes. Also, there was discussion around the dependency between researchers and practitioners for success in the field.