#8 Trauma-Informed Justice: Comfort dogs and more in the Beaverton Municipal Court

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Juliet Britton, Beaverton Municipal Court Presiding Judge, discusses:</span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">The importance of addressing concerns early with repeated low level crimes to connect people to services to support long term stability and decrease recidivism in the future at the municipal court level;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Mental Health Liaison position at the court - a clinician in court to provide coordination and connection to civil services and housing, which has lowered the court’s failure to appear rate and is showing a promising reduction in recidivism rates; </span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">The comfort dog program for court participants and for staff through a partnership with Dove Lewis. Dogs in court (virtual and in-person) increase feelings of calm and relaxation with participants who are coping with significant symptoms and trauma history. The dogs are also brought in for staff as a way to promote staff wellness within a stressful work environment; and </span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Beaverton Police Department’s Community Policing Program and their collaboration with the court. Police build rapport with participants in the community and take the time to have conversations with participants to support their involvement in programming and the court.   </span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For more information about the intersection between criminal justice and behavioral health in Oregon, please reach out to us through our website at</span> <a href="http://www.ocbhji.org/podcast"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">http://www.ocbhji.org/podcast</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and Facebook page at</span> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OCBHJI/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">https://www.facebook.com/OCBHJI/</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. We’d love to hear from you.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For more information about treatme