In 2020, the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) received a SJI grant to assess the court’s access to and use of mental health and substance use recovery services within the community. Funding allowed the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) to conduct an assessment of strengths, opportunities and challenges that judges, court personnel and stakeholders experience when connecting individuals to services and to assess the court’s readiness to shift to a recovery-oriented system of care (ROSC) model.

In March 2021, CJI completed its assessment and shared the Recovery Oriented Systems of Care: Needs and Opportunities for Kentucky’s Court System report. After the report was shared widely with court stakeholders, the AOC convened a workgroup to establish a shared vision and define goals and values. The AOC utilized the Responsive Education to Support Treatment in Opioid Recovery Efforts Leadership Team to guide the work and shift toward a ROSC model.

In June 2022, the team published, Setting the Direction for Kentucky’s Recovery-Oriented System of Care which laid the foundation for a statewide committee to operationalize the ROSC approach.

Kentucky’s Judicial Commission on Mental Health was established on August 11, 2022, to improve the practice, quality and timeliness of judicial responses to cases involving mental health, substance use and intellectual disabilities.

The AOC has also created the Office of Statewide Programs to provide oversight to departments providing direct services to justice involved individuals and established Behavioral Health Liaison position to facilitate the systemic changes needed to fully implement the ROSC model.