Sheriff Grady Judd announces new mental health, addiction services for Polk County jails
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POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced the launch of a new program for mental health and substance addiction services for Polk County jails, in a way he says has never been done before.
The STARR program, Substance Treatment Advocacy Recovery and Reentry is a new way to enhance mental and behavioral health programming. The program will focus on substance use disorder treatment for those seeking recovery.
“Our goal is to set the model, the mold, and the trend,” Sheriff Judd said.
The Polk County Jail is the largest mental health and substance use housing facility, according to the sheriff’s office. 44% of inmates nationwide struggle with a mental health disorder and 63% with substance abuse.
“I run the biggest mental health facility in the county and that should not be,” said Sheriff Judd.
He says STARR will pull 16 different county programs together.
Sheriff Judd was joined by Polk County Commission Chairman Bill Brasswell, social service provider CEOs, and representatives from several government agencies and non-profits to announce the STARR program.
With a new behavioral treatment program, the sheriff’s office hopes to prevent future crime.
Officials described “breaking down silos”, as “removing the divisions between people and organizations who have similar missions and empowering them to work together to improve outcomes.” They are hopeful this will invite more collaboration, communication, better decision-making, and improved productivity.
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“Folks that are significantly mentally ill, people that have addiction problems, significant addiction problems, need to be in a facility or under services that helps them. If we’ll do that, we’ll reduce crime,” said Judd.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with Tri-County Human Services to help empower individuals through rehabilitation and rebuilding communities.
“We follow them to their doctor appointments. If they are having a problem communicating with their doctors, we help with that. We take them to their 12-step meetings. We take them to the grocery store if they are not capable of doing that on their own,” said Denise Harrison with Tri-County.
Sheriff Judd says the STARR program will remove the divisions between people and organizations to improve outcomes.
“If we do what we can do for those that are in jail, I like to think of them as a captive audience, then we can move forward from that and also provide services for them in the community,” said Judd.
“We are not waiting on Washington D.C. or Tallahassee to act – we are joining forces with public and private community stakeholders to make a difference in Polk County regarding mental and behavioral health,” Sheriff Judd said. “What we are doing now is visionary in mental health treatment; we are bringing multiple partners together to focus on how we can best reduce the cycle of criminality.”
Bill Braswell, the Chairman of Polk County Board of County Commissioners said, “We all probably know of someone cycling in and out of institutions due to their struggles with behavioral health conditions and in need of specialized help and treatment. This expansion of the Helping HANDS program is another example of Polk County’s commitment to innovative, effective county government programs that strengthen services for residents.”
In previous years, the sheriff’s office has provided prevention and recidivism reduction programs like Helping Hands, Faith-Based Dorms, Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, pastoral visitation, and more.
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