The Importance of the Mental Health Initiative in Alexandria & Northern Virginia
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Mental Health Initiative (MHI) plays a critical role in Alexandria and the broader Northern Virginia region by addressing the intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system. Many individuals involved in the justice system experience mental health challenges that, if left unaddressed, can lead to repeated incarceration, untreated illness, and community risk.
Through MHI, the OCA ensures that these cases are handled with expertise, care, and fairness. By providing access to mental health treatment, diversion programs, and forensic evaluations, the initiative protects public safety while respecting the rights of individuals with mental health diagnoses.
The OCA is committed to upholding fair justice and the rule of law by balancing accountability with compassion. MHI reflects the office’s dedication to ensuring that every case is managed ethically, that constitutional rights are preserved, and that individuals with mental health needs are given opportunities for treatment and rehabilitation rather than unnecessary incarceration.
Goals
The MHI focuses on misdemeanor cases and aims to reduce incarceration when public safety can be maintained through treatment and supervision, while efficiently managing cases that require forensic evaluations for defendants in custody. By targeting these cases, the initiative helps individuals with mental health challenges receive appropriate treatment, promotes public safety, and supports fair, effective justice in Alexandria.
Reduce Recidivism
By treating underlying behavioral health issues, the program can help prevent future involvement in the justice system.
Promote Accountability
Increase personal, familial, and societal accountability among participants; Encourage responsibility through ongoing judicial interaction and structured supervision.
Improve Use of Community Resources
Promote effective planning and use of resources within both the criminal justice and behavioral health systems; Connect defendants to services like housing, case management, or long-term mental health care to reduce reliance on incarceration.
Address Comorbidity
Focus on co-occurring disorders, such as mental illness coupled with substance use, which many Virginia dockets explicitly target; Provide integrated treatment plans tailored to combined mental health and substance use needs.
Evidence-Based Treatment
Use evidence-based practices for diagnosing mental illness, supervising participants, and delivering treatment.; Monitor participant outcomes (e.g., treatment compliance, re-arrest rates) and ensure continuous program evaluation.
Increase Public Safety
Enhance public safety through intensive supervision combined with treatment, rather than incarceration; Provide a structured “problem-solving” justice approach that addresses root behavioral health problems. Virginia’s law recognizes this as a goal.
Interagency Collaboration
Facilitate collaboration among criminal justice, behavioral health, probation, and community service agencies. Virginia’s statute requires advisory committees to promote coordination.
Who Can Benefit
A Collaborative Approach
The MHI uses a collaborative, team-based approach to ensure decisions are informed, fair, and tailored to each individual’s needs. The team includes prosecutors, public defenders, treatment providers, probation officers, and, when appropriate, mentors or peer supporters. Supervision, treatment plans, and eligibility decisions are made together, focusing on rehabilitation and public safety rather than through an adversarial process.
Courts
- Identify defendants who may benefit from diversion or treatment programs
- Provide a structured, problem-solving court environment
- Require regular appearances in court by participants, allowing the judge to interact directly with people in the program and to assess compliance / progress.
While some jurisdictions use Behavioral Health or mental health specialty dockets, in Alexandria the Mental Health Initiative (MHI) operates as a diversion program rather than a standalone docket, providing targeted support and treatment for eligible misdemeanor cases.
Department of Probation & Parole
- Monitor compliance with court-ordered supervision or treatment.
- Coordinate with mental health providers and the OCA to ensure public safety.
Mental Health Providers
- Community mental health clinics
- Psychiatrists and psychologists
- Forensic evaluators
Social Services & Community Organizations
- Agencies that provide housing, substance use treatment, vocational training, or other supportive services.
- Nonprofits that assist with crisis intervention, advocacy, and community reintegration.