Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

CASSOPOLIS — Cass County Problem-Solving/Treatment Courts will continue serving Cass County residents for another year.

Chief Judge Susan L. Dobrich announced Monday that the courts were awarded $438,461 in grants from the State Court Administration. The funds are to be used from Oct. 1, 2021 to Sept. 30, 2022.

The grants included:

• $73,000 for the Family Treatment Court (Michigan Drug Court Grant Program grant)
• $170,000 for the Swift and Sure Sanctions Probation Program (SSSPP grant)
• $110,000 for the Hybrid DWI/Drug Court (Byrne JAG)
• $85,461 for the Cass County Mental Health Court (CMHC)

The funds are used to facilitate treatment courts for those battling mental illness or substance use disorders.

“Treatment Courts offer creative multi-disciplinary solutions to jail overcrowding and are effective in reducing drug and alcohol related crime while also creating stronger and safer communities, more productive and engaged citizens, and children being raised in healthier families since underlying substance use disorders and mental illness are treated and monitored with a wrap-around service approach,” said Dobrich, who created Cass County’s Family Treatment Court. Dobrich still oversees these courts.

Problem-solving/treatment courts treat addiction and mental health disorders as complex diseases and provide a comprehensive, sustained continuum of therapeutic interventions, treatment and other services to increase a participant’s recovery, hold participants accountable, reduce the rate of future court involvement, and keep our communities safer, Dobrich said.

Problem-solving/treatment courts are more structured and regimented than standard probation. These programs require participants to engage in treatment and appear before the judge for reviews one to two times per month. Participants are also monitored intensively by probation and law enforcement, where home checks and employment checks are conducted for compliance.