Planning a Wellness Court


Publications and Tools

Tribal-Specific Drug Court Planning

Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts: Program Development Guide, Tribal Law and Policy Institute (2002).
This guide explores this history of adapting the drug court concept for tribal communities and then the process by which a tribe can implement a Healing to Wellness Court into their own community. This process includes assessing the community’s needs and conducting preliminary planning, creating the organization and structure, identifying and designing the treatment services, and solidifying funding sources. Additionally, the guide includes resource appendices.
 

Overview of Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts, 2nd ed. (2014), offers an overview of Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts, also known at Tribal Drug Courts. This publications explores some of the unique opportunities and challenges faced in implementing and operating a Healing to Wellness Court. Common challenges include adapting the drug court concept to include alcohol dependency and abuse treatment, accounting for the unique jurisdictional factors present in Indian country, and ensuring sustainability. Common opportunities include addressing the specific cultural needs of the tribal nation, engaging in judicial innovation, and providing an alternative to incarceration. Healing to Wellness Courts: A Preliminary Overview of Tribal Drug Courts (2002)
 

Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts: The Key Components, 2nd ed. Tribal Law and Policy Institute (2014),
Is designed to provide sugested key compononents 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, adpated for tribes, which describe the basic elements of Tribal Healig 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)

  • Tribal Healing to Wellness Court Planning Process Checklist, National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP)
    This checklist provides a comprehensive (though not necessarily exhaustive) list of resources and issues to consider when planning and designing a Healing to Wellness Court. Checklist items includes community resources, drug court subject matters that team members should be knowledgeable of, entry process, purposes of legal and clinical screening and assessment, and treatment protocol, among many others. 

State-Specific Drug Court Planning

  • Getting Started, Carolyn Hardin and Carson Fox, The Drug Court Judicial Benchbook, National Drug Court Institute, Chapter 2 (Douglas B. Marlowe and Hon. William G. Meyer, eds., 2011)
    I.       Introduction
    II.     Drug Court Teams
    III.   Defining the Problem
    IV.    Establishing a Mission
    V.      Measurable Goals and Objectives
    VI.    Gathering Resources
    VII.   Determining Eligibility Criteria
    VIII. Selecting the Drug Court Model
    IX.    Gradutaion and Termination Criteria
    X.      Phase Structure
    XI.    Applying Program Crieria
    XII.   Evaluation
    XIII. Conclusion
    See the NDCJ Judicial Benchbook in its entirety here. 
     
  • Family Treatment Court Planning Guide, National Drug Court Institute and Center for Children and Family Futures (2018).
    This guide provides step-by-step instructions for teams planning and implementing a Family Treatment Court (FTC) in their community.  The guide provides key decision makers with the necessary information to recruit and motivate a multidisciplinary, collaborative team to begin the process of implementing an FTC. 
     
  • Establishing Drug Treatment Courts: Strategies, Experiences, and Preliminary Outcomes: Volume One: Overview and Survey Results, Caroline Cooper, Brent Franklin, Tiffany Mease, Organization of the American States (OAS) and Justice Programs Office, School of Public Affairs, American University (2010).
    This publication provides a snapshot of the planning issues, operational characteristics, and implementation experience of 20+ programs (in addition to those in the U.S.) that had been implemented in 14 countries along with various programmatic and policy issues that were being addressed in varying degrees.
     
  • Drug Treatment Courts: An International Response to Drug -Dependent Offenders, Justice Programs Office, School of Public Affairs, American University and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), Secretariat for Multidimensional Security of the Organization of American States (OAS) (2013).
    This publication has been prepared as a follow-up to “Establishing Drug Treatment Courts: Strategies, Experiences and Preliminary Outcomes,” prepared by  the Organization of the American States (OAS) and American University in 2010 to provide an overview of Drug Treatment Court (TDC) activity in countries where these programs were being planned and/or implemented. The present publication is designed to address in greater depth these major policy and implementation issues that these 20+ Drug Treatment Courts were addressing and programs will need to continue to address as DTCs mature and evolve. 
     
  • Taking Aim: How to Develop and/or Redefine Your Target Drug Court Population, Elizabeth Costello and Robyn Johnson, OJP Drug Court Clearinghouse and Technical Assistance Project (2002).
    This 2002 publication explores the planning process for implementing a state drug court, including identifying the target population, identifying community, criminal justice, and treatment resoruces, determining eligibility, collecting data, and conducting evaluations. This publication can provide an important insight into issues all drug courts should consider, including Healing to Wellness Courts.
  • Development and Implementation of Drug Court Systems, Judge Jeff Tauber, National Drug Court Institute, Monograph Series 2 (1999).
    This 1999 publication explores the benefits and challenges to developing a drug court, and is a glimpse into the eise of the drug court model as a national standard. This publications includes several examples of state drug courts as examples from the field.
  • Adult Drug Court Planning Process Checklist, National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP)
    Like the Tribal Healing to Wellness Court Planning Process Checklist above, this checklist provides a comprehensive list of planning considerations, but geared towards state courts. It therefore lacks some of the cultural and jurisdictional considerations that tribal courts are more likely to face.
     
  • Developing and Implementing a Drug Treatment Court in Michigan, Michigan Supreme Court and State Court Administrative Office (2012).
    This monograph adds substance to many of the checklist items provided, as well as resources both national and specific to the State of Michigan. The appendices include sample operational materials.

Strategic Planning

  • Community Readiness Model, Tri-Ethnic Center.
    The Community Readiness Model was developed at the Tri-Ethnic Center to assess how ready a community is to address an issue. The basic premise is that matching an intervention to a community’s level of readiness is absolutely essential for success. Efforts that are too ambitious are likely to fail because community members will not be ready or able to respond.  The Community Readiness Model has been used to assess readiness for a variety of issues, including drug and alcohol use, domestic and sexual violence, head injury, HIV/AIDS, suicide, parenting, animal control issues, and environmental issues.


Sample Materials

  • Fort Peck Community Wellness Court
    • Program Description – This program description offers an excellent resource for participant, family members of participants, tribal council, and community members. It briefly describes the concept, and includes the program’s mission statement, target population, and programmatic goals.
       
    • Implementation Plan – This invaluable implementation plan breaks down each of the Fort Peck Community Wellness Court’s programmatic goals into objectives and sub-tasks, providing explicit detail in how to realistically achieve the implementation of Healing to Wellness Court.


Other Available Technical Assistance

Tribal Wellness Court Training and Technical Assistance Request Form -To request Training and Technical Assistance from TLPI, please complete this online request form.  

If you would like to receive important updates on Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts, information on upcoming Trainings and Technical Assistance visits, or more information to assist you in developing and implementing your Tribal Healing to Wellness Court, please sign up for our Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts Mailing List.   
To see the collection of prior postings to the list, visit our Tribal Drug Courts Mailing List Archives.

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