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The Collier County FIRST (Forensic Intensive Reintegration Support Team) program provides intensive community reintegration assistance to adult inmates that suffer with serious and persistent mental illnesses who may also have co-occurring substance abuse disorders.
The FIRST program provides select inmates with services designed to facilitate their mental and behavioral health. Team members provide enrolled individuals with the opportunity to participate in mental health services, intensive case management, counseling, supported housing, supported employment and peer support services in order to achieve rehabilitation and reintegration in the community. The program is voluntary and the average program length is 6-12 months.
The goal of the FIRST program is to help clients participate in alternatives to incarceration, obtain mental health services through improved access, reduce days in jail, attain permanent and stable housing, improve social connectedness and reduce recidivism.
Collier County has contracted with the David Lawrence Center to provide the case management and therapeutic services, National Alliance on Mental Illness of Collier County (NAMI) to provide peer support services and the Collier County Sheriffs Office, and their contracted healthcare provider Prison Health Services, to provide specialized, individualized discharge planning. Florida Gulf Coast University is also partner in the program who assigns interns to provide basic skills training and opportunities for social inclusion in the community.
Referrals can come from family members, legal services or community providers.
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