The goal of their mental health reform effort is to improve the coordination of and access to mental health services for court-involved youth in Pennsylvania.  Site-based activities include:

1. Collaborations at the state and county levels among the agencies responsible for youth with mental health problems in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems;
2. Creation of interagency teams to expedite placement of youth into appropriate programs;
3. Adoption of a single, multi-system screening and assessment instrument for all young offenders;
4. Promulgation of policies to reduce contact with the juvenile justice system for youth with mental health needs and divert them into community-based programs;
5. Development of blended or integrated funding strategies;
6. Delivery of evidence-based practices and programs. 

This state’s mental health reform efforts are embedded within their goal to increase the availability of community-based alternatives to secure confinement for all youth.  Site-based strategies to address this goal include:

1. Educating key juvenile justice stakeholders about the availability of and use of alternatives to confinement for juvenile offenders;
2. Mapping the array of existing programs and services (including mental health services) in select communities that provide alternatives to incarceration for youth;
3. Linking juvenile justice decision-makers with services to devise ways to develop or expand community-based services, including child welfare and mental health services, to meet the needs of youth in the system;
4. Funding pilot experiments at the county and judicial circuit level designed to expand the local array of community-based alternatives and promote positive outcomes for youth. 

Louisiana’s mental health reform efforts are being undertaken as part of their plan to increase the availability of scientifically supported community-level interventions and the use of sound screening and assessment practices that serve to divert youth into those interventions.  Site-based activities include:

1. Conducting a review of current screening and assessment practices, exploring gaps and opportunities, and developing a work plan to create a consistent screening and assessment process using appropriate tools at key processing stages, with an emphasis on earlier points of juvenile justice system contact;
2. Reviewing currently available services, identifying barriers to the development and expansion of evidence-based practices, and development of a plan for strengthening evidence-based practices;
3. Conducting statewide meetings, workshops and other educational activities to raise awareness of the benefits of using a standardized and valid screening and assessment process and evidence-based practices; and
4. Assessing the current state of affairs within Louisiana’s Juvenile Drug Courts and developing and piloting a plan for increasing the use of scientifically sound screening and assessment instruments and evidence-based practices within the juvenile drug courts.

Mental health was one of three TAI’s identified in Washington State.  The state’s mental health related activities include:

1. Assisting in the implementation of the Mental Health Transformation Grant recommendations that relate directly to mental health and juvenile justice;
2. Assisting in the implementation of King County’s Systems Integration Initiative by working to develop a standardized mental health screening and assessment process; implementing information sharing policies across systems; providing cross-training to mental health and juvenile justice staff; and supporting efforts to increase capacity and access to evidence-based programs; 
3. Targeted efforts in two counties - Benton and Franklin - to improve collaboration (using the Blueprint for Change as a guide) and to increase the availability of culturally competent mental health services for youth.