Providing Resources for Probationers, Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse

San Benito County Probation Department is daily targeted by defendants having an issue with drugs, violations, domestic violence, battery, drug court, Post Release Community Supervision. The main issue is that the defendants relapse into drugs, which can sometimes lead themselves to committing a violation of probation. Due to a certain level of stress, depression and bad influence defendants sometimes make a bad decision and drug relapse or commit a violation. Which them leads them to incarceration, loss of family support and sometimes death because of a drug overdose. A Referral Resource Handout was created from different resources available in the community. These resources were gathered by the preference of probation officers that decided their defendants needed the most outreach for services in the community. Since the handout will increase awareness to the defendants, there should be a high statistic of the defendant to make use of the handout, and resources available in the community. Implementing the project started with learning about a new program being implemented at San Benito County Probation Department called Mental Health Court. Overseen the defendants, Probation Officers recommended to make a Referral Resource Handout to help the defendants be aware of resources. Since the agency didn’t have an existing Resource Handout. Some resources that will be needed for the project will be programs that could help them succeed, such as classes, counseling, transportation, job search, housing, shelter, child development, and medical care, it will all depend on their caseload, which resources they may need. The Referral Resource Handout was to be given defendants in a 3 week timeline followed by a survey to answer. Gathering the survey results there should be a high percent shown in a graph about how many defendants used the Referral Resource Handout