Key Component #1: Individual and Community Healing Focus
Tribal Healing to Wellness Court brings together alcohol and drug treatment, community healing resources, and the tribal justice process by using a team approach to achieve the physical and spiritual healing of the individual participant, and to promote Native nation building and the well-being of the community.
Key Component #2: Referral Points and Legal Process
Participants enter Tribal Healing to Wellness Court through various referral points and legal processes that promote tribal sovereignty and the participant’s due (fair) process rights.
Key Component #3: Screening and Eligibility
Eligible court-involved substance-abusing parents, guardians, juveniles, and adults are identified early through legal and clinical screening for eligibility and are promptly placed into the Tribal Healing to Wellness Court.
Key Component #4: Treatment and Rehabilitation
Tribal Healing to Wellness Court provides access to holistic, structured, and phased alcohol and drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation services that incorporate culture and tradition.
Key Component #5: Intensive Supervision
Tribal Healing to Wellness Court participants are monitored through intensive supervision that includes frequent and random testing for alcohol and drug use, while participants and their families benefit from effective team-based case management.
Key Component #6: Incentives and Sanctions
Progressive rewards (or incentives) and consequences (or sanctions) are used to encourage participant compliance with the Tribal Healing to Wellness Court requirements.
Key Component #7: Judicial Interaction
Ongoing involvement of a Tribal Healing to Wellness Court judge with the Tribal Wellness Court team and staffing, and ongoing Tribal Wellness Court judge interaction with each participant are essential.
Key Component #8: Monitoring and Evaluation
Process measurement, performance measurement, and evaluation are tools used to monitor and evaluate the achievement of program goals, identify needed improvements to the Tribal Healing to Wellness Court and to the tribal court process, determine participant progress, and provide information to governing bodies, interested community groups, and funding sources.
Key Component #9: Continuing Interdisciplinary and Community Education
Continuing interdisciplinary and community education promote effective Tribal Healing to Wellness Court planning, implementation, and operation.
Key Component #10: Team Interaction
The development and maintenance of ongoing commitments, communication, coordination, and cooperation among Tribal Healing to Wellness Court team members, service providers and payers, the community and relevant organizations, including the use of formal written procedures and agreements, are critical for Tribal Wellness Court success.
Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts: The Key Components, 2nd ed. (2014), is designed to provide suggested key components and recommended practices for tribal justice systems to consider as they design, develop, and implement a Tribal Healing to Wellness Court that meets the needs of their community. This publication is organized around ten key components, adapted for tribes, which describe the basic elements of Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts. The purpose of each component is explained, followed by suggested practices, and a real-world example of the component being applied by active Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts. Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts: The Key Components, 1st ed. (2003)
Also see:
NADCP Adult Drug Court Best Practice Standards, Vol. 1
The Standards bring to bear over two decades of research on addiction, pharmacology, behavioral health, and criminal justice and include lessons that will not only improve Drug Court, but will help improve the way the entire system responds to offenders living with addiction or mental illness. Volume I standards include target population; historically disadvantaged groups; roles and responsibilities of the judge; incentives, sanctions, and therapeutic adjustments; and substance abuse treatment.
NADCP Adult Drug Court Best Practice Standards, Vol. 2
The Standards bring to bear over two decades of research on addiction, pharmacology, behavioral health, and criminal justice and include lessons that will not only improve Drug Court, but will help improve the way the entire system responds to offenders living with addiction or mental illness. Volume II standards include complementary treatment and social services; drug and alcohol testing; multidisciplinary team; census and caseloads; and monitoring and evaluation.
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