Partners in Crisis (PIC)

Michigan Partners in Crisis (PIC) is a coalition of organizations and jurists dedicated to enhancing access to quality, clinically appropriate treatment and support services and settings for children and adults experiencing emotional disorders and mental illnesses. PIC is a coalition focusing on more than mental health issues.

The coalition seeks mechanisms that reduce the over-reliance on the criminal justice system as a response to mental illness and emotional disorders, while preserving the well-being and safety of consumers, families and the general public.

Our Advisory Board members are distinguished judges, prosecutors, mental health professionals, law enforcement officers and others have joined this important cause. We are pleased to invite organizations and jurists to join our statewide coalition dedicated to doing something about this problem – Michigan Partners in Crisis.

Michigan Partners in Crisis Advisory Board

- Hon. James Jamo | Co-Chair
- Patricia Streeter, JD, PhD | Co-Chair

• Marianne Huff, LMSW
• Oliver Cameron
• Nick Ciaramitaro
• Richard Fuller 
• Ruth Grant
• Sheryl Kubiak, PhD
• Jessica Martin
• Hon. Milton Mack, Jr.
• Dorrian McGhee
• Tabitha Ross-Brown
• Sandra Peppers
• Jane Shank
• John Shea

Lobbyist: Stephanie Johnson

Mission Statement

Michigan Partners in Crisis is dedicated to enhancing access to quality, clinically appropriate treatment and support services and settings for children and adults experiencing emotional disorders and mental illnesses.

PIC Initiatives

1.  Stabilize funding and delivery models for Behavioral Health.
Promote funding stabilization and delivery models that provide oversight, accountability, and contract enforcement at the state level.  Ensure services are consistently available throughout the state.

2.  Support deflection, diversion, and pretrial release reform as applied to   people with mental, emotional, and behavioral health conditions.
Promote implementation of diversion and pretrial release reform; expand the use of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion
(LEAD)^[1] statewide.

3.  Expand specialty court concepts to the judicial system generally.
Expand the use of problem-solving tools used in specialty courts across the judicial system to reduce confinement (incarceration or hospitalization) as the only option for noncompliance.        

4.  Emphasize implementation of and education about Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) statewide.
Promote training for attorneys, prosecutors, and law enforcement in the use of AOT.