NAMI: Ask the Expert: Suicide in Pretrial Detention and Expanding the Crisis Care Continuum OD046

An on-demand video and transcript of the presentation are available here [opens in new tab].

About The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. They are an alliance of more than 650 local Affiliates and 49 State organizations who work in your community to raise awareness and provide support and education to people with mental illness and their loved ones. Through awareness, advocacy and education, NAMI is committed to building stronger communities and a better future for everyone affected by mental illness.

Course Summary

Practice Level: Beginner

This course, based on the Ask the Expert webinar series by NAMI, reviews suicide risk in pretrial detention and explains why the earliest detention interval is a time-sensitive window for identification, stabilization, and diversion to treatment. The training synthesizes epidemiologic and systems-level considerations, including how jail environments can amplify trauma, fear, shame, and clinical destabilization, and why suicide prevention requires coordinated action beyond in-custody clinical services alone. It then extends crisis-system planning by examining how the crisis care continuum can be redesigned to function through the “jailhouse door,” aligning justice decision points with access to appropriate levels of community-based care. Interprofessional coordination among legal stakeholders, peer support, and behavioral health partners is emphasized to reduce suicide risk and improve safety and health outcomes during pretrial adjudication.

The course, with an intended audience of social workers, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and counselors, supports ethical and evidence-informed crisis response and care coordination for justice-involved individuals at elevated suicide risk, integrating clinical considerations with real-world systems and decision-making contexts.

Course Format

This course contains a participant guide, practice test, and on-demand video. When you’re ready, purchase the course by clicking the “Add To Cart” or “Enroll” button. This will let you take the test, complete the course evaluation and receive your certificate for CE credits.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify key risk factors and high-risk time points for suicide during pretrial detention.
2. Describe core components of an expanded crisis care continuum that supports pathways to community-based care during initial detention and first appearance.
3. Analyze diversion and care-coordination strategies among justice and behavioral health partners that reduce suicide risk in the pretrial period.

Course Syllabus

• The detention crisis and suicide in jails: scope, patterns, and pretrial risk
• Screening, safety protocols, and clinical destabilization during booking through first hearing
• Expanding the crisis care continuum into detention: 988-era crisis systems and service pathways
• Care-focused adjudication: diversion, peer support, and cross-system coordination for access to careOverview

Current References

Alcorn, C. (2023, June 21). Two teens die by suicide within days of each other at Cobb County jail. 11Alive.https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/two-teens-die-suicide-cobb-jail/85-43650926-8d54-4e96-874f-992b95b33ec8[opens in new tab]

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2025, September 5). SHO #25-004: Best practices for implementing the continuum of crisis services under Medicaid and CHIP. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.https://www.medicaid.gov/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/sho25004.pdf[opens in new tab]

National Commission on Correctional Health Care. (2026). NCCHC releases 2026 mental health standards: A transformative leap.https://ncchc.org/ncchc-releases-2026-mental-health-standards/[opens in new tab]

RAND Corporation. (2020, January 7). More than half of those in mental health unit at L.A. jail could be diverted to community programs [Press release].https://www.rand.org/news/press/2020/01/07.html[opens in new tab]

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2024, May 24). The sequential intercept model (SIM).https://www.samhsa.gov/communities/criminal-juvenile-justice/sequential-intercept-model[opens in new tab]

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2025, January 15). 2025 national guidelines for a behavioral health coordinated system of crisis care (Publication No. PEP24-01-037). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.https://library.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/national-guidelines-crisis-care-pep24-01-037.pdf[opens in new tab]

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2026, January 29). Evidence-based practices in crisis care (Crisis Systems Response TTAC webinar slides). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.https://988crisissystemshelp.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/2026-02/1.29.2026.Suicide.Prevention.Webinar_508.pdf[opens in new tab]

Suslovic, B. J., Epperson, M. W., Cinque, A., et al. (2025). Examining the implementation of a novel pretrial diversion program for people with serious mental illnesses. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 50, 914–939. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-025-09830-x[opens in new tab]

Policy Research Associates. (n.d.). The sequential intercept model (SIM).https://www.prainc.com/sim/[opens in new tab]

Weinstock, L. M., Jones, R. N., Miller, T. R., et al. (2025). Safety planning vs standard care for suicide prevention after pretrial jail detention: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Network Open, 8(11), e2543156. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.43156[opens in new tab]

Instructors

Yolanda L. Lewis, Executive Vice President, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute

Yolanda is the Executive Vice President and Executive Director of the Center for Justice and Health at the Meadows Institute. Prior to that, she served as the Senior Director, Safety and Justice with The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she oversaw Pew’s work to improve justice-related efficiencies at the state and local levels of government, including oversight for public safety performance, mental health, and civil legal system modernization. Before joining Pew, Yolanda served as district court administrator for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit, where she managed the courts in Fulton County, Georgia, designing initiatives to improve public safety, including a focus on judicial administration, criminal and civil case management, mental health, and justice reinvestment. Yolanda has served as a faculty member for Michigan State University’s Judicial Administration program, vice president of the National Association for Court Management, founding member of the Fulton County Smart Justice Advisory Council, and president of the Georgia Council of Court Administrators. She also has experience as an executive producer, host, and commentator for several TV shows covering justice-related issues. A certified court manager, Lewis is an appointee to the Racial Equity Advisory Board for the District Court of Columbia and a board member of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System in addition to a host of other local and national affiliations.

Yolanda holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, and a master’s in public administration from the University of South Alabama.  She is a graduate of the executive leadership program at Yale University.

Nicole Errickson, LCSW

Nicole is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of Georgia. She brings over 19 years experience in the social work field, primarily working in school systems as a school social worker and with the McKinney-Vento grant. Over her career, Nicole has had several opportunities to help develop and execute professional development events. Nicole has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Alabama and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Alabama.

Accreditation Approval Statements

CE4Less.com is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. CE4Less.com maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

CE4Less.com, provider #1115, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 8/8/24-8/8/27.

Social workers completing this course receive 1 clinical continuing education credit.

We are committed to providing our learners with unbiased information. CE4Less never accepts commercial support and our authors have no significant financial or other conflicts of interest pertaining to the material.