At NEOMED, we love acronyms! Do you recognize this one?
You might be familiar with the CJCCoE (C-J-CC-O-E), but do you know what it stands for? The Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence (CJ CCoE), housed in NEOMED’s Department of Psychiatry, promotes and encourages mental health and criminal justice centers to work as a team to find alternatives to jailing Ohio residents who suffer from mental health disorders. The CJ CCoE, overseen by director Ruth Simera, M.Ed., is funded by a grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to the County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board. It works closely with National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio (NAMI), the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, and the Ohio Attorney General Task Force on Criminal Justice and Mental Illness, to achieve its goal of diverting those with mental illness from jail and towards treatment.