POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County Sheriff’s Office is joining forces with more than a dozen organizations to enhance mental and behavioral health services in the Polk County Jail.
“My whole life was a crisis. Everything that I did from the time that I woke up to the time I passed out was a crisis back then,” said Denise Harrison.
Denise Harrison said she was once addicted to drugs and suffered from untreated mental health issues, which landed her in and out of jail.
“I got caught up in the DCF system. They took my son and said I wasn’t fit to raise him. At that point, the rubber met the road, and I needed to get into a facility to get my barring back,” said Harrison.
She entered a Tri-County Human Services treatment facility and turned her life around. Today, she now works for Tri-County Human Services as a peer specialist for inmates inside Polk County Jail.
“The biggest part about the peer specialist role is we talk their language. We ran the same streets; we’ve been to the same jailhouse. We’ve been to hell, and we know the way out,” Harrison said.
Tri-County Human Services is just one of 16 Polk County organizations that are now joining forces to provide mental health and substance abuse services inside the Polk County Jail. Historically these mental health providers worked separately. The Substance Treatment Advocacy Recovery and Reentry Program, or STARR, aims to break down silos to improve outcomes.
“I run the biggest mental health facility in the county, and that should not be. Folks that are significantly mentally ill and people that have addiction problems need to be in a facility or under services that help them,” said Sheriff Grady Judd.
The STARR program will focus on inmates in need of substance abuse treatment. Before they’re released from jail, inmates participate in group and individual treatment. Support services when they are released will also be offered.
“If we do that, we’ll reduce crime. We’ll reduce victimization, and we’ll give people the opportunity to not only stay out of jail but to become physically more healthy as well as mentally more healthy,” Judd said.
