Communities are working to support residents with behavioral health conditions and improve public safety for all, but the systems and policies intended to address these issues often appear complex and abstract. The Systems Mapping and Training Center’s services bridge this gap by translating theoretical frameworks into clear, actionable, and local strategies. Learn how the Systems Mapping and Training Center’s systems mapping events and trainings have driven impactful social change across the country.
Competence to Stand Trial Mapping Workshops
Competence to Stand Trial Mapping Workshops help communities identify decision-makers, critical partners, and programs within the competence to stand trial/competence restoration system and foster the creation of sustainable, community-based solutions. These mappings have significantly reshaped forensic mental health systems nationwide.
Real communities, real change: Following their mappings, California successfully implemented a mental health diversion program across 24 counties, while Florida initiated a statewide review to enhance competence assessment services. Utah, notably, expanded crisis services and developed certification programs for forensic evaluators, markedly improving competence evaluation quality.
Crisis Intercept Mapping Workshops for Service Members, Veterans, and their Families
Crisis Intercept Mapping Workshops for Service Members, Veterans, and their Families helps behavioral health and Veterans’ services work together better. Through this mapping, attendees explore how to enhance suicide prevention, crisis care, and postvention services for service members, Veterans, and their families.
Real communities, real change: In the wake of Virginia’s mapping workshop, the state established the “3 Cs”—Care, Connect, Communicate—to ensure accessible mental health support. Within a brief pilot period, Virginia screened 1,305 individuals, discovering that 23% faced suicide risk, underscoring the importance of early intervention. Similarly, Houston, Texas, leveraged Crisis Intercept Mapping Workshops to enhance collaboration among governmental and non-profit entities, establishing a robust care coordination model benefiting approximately 300,000 Veterans. Houston’s extensive care coordination model now provides comprehensive and continuous mental health support to hundreds of thousands of local Veterans.
Sequential Intercept Model Facilitator Training
The Sequential Intercept Model facilitator training significantly enhances community systems by equipping facilitators to effectively lead workshops that address the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice.
Real communities, real change: Facilitators trained in Oregon have successfully improved community interventions, ensuring more comprehensive support for individuals with behavioral health conditions in the criminal legal system.
Sequential Intercept Model Mapping Workshops
Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) Mapping Workshops conducted across the country have identified critical gaps in community services and encouraged collaboration between the behavioral health and criminal legal systems.
Real communities, real change: Dozens of county-based SIM Mapping Workshops conducted in Pennsylvania resulted in wide-reaching positive changes within local behavioral health and criminal legal systems. Key outcomes directly attributable to the SIM Mapping Workshops included implementation of Mental Health First Aid and Crisis Intervention Team training for public safety personnel and the establishment of new mental health services for children in collaboration with NAMI. More broadly, representatives from 29 counties confirmed enhanced operational cooperation, communication, or procedural improvements following the mapping workshop. Specific examples include the following:
- daily distribution of jail census data to behavioral health and housing coordinators,
- appointment of dedicated contacts at county assistance offices to streamline Medicaid reinstatement at reentry,
- hiring specialized roles such as mental health directors within jails, and
- facilitating mutual referrals between probation departments and the local U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provider.