The 30-year-old son of Jolene Davis ambles out of the courtroom ahead of her.
He’s carrying a backpack containing his clothes and a plastic grocery bag with a blanket.
“Why you crying?” he asks her.
Happy tears, she reassures.
Her son appeared before a Jackson County Circuit Court judge and agreed his mother should be his guardian. He’s diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, uses meth and other drugs, and has been living in abandoned buildings and alleys in Kansas City for about four years.
“I would trade places with him if I could,” Davis said, standing outside the courthouse in downtown Kansas City. “I want him to have a good life but there is a lot of work still to do.”
Her son admitted using meth a few days prior to the Dec. 17 court hearing and slept on a sidewalk outside a Kansas City shelter the night before.
Being houseless is not a crime. But people who are sometimes end up charged under city ordinances for drug possession, theft or property damage.
Davis is hopeful that sweeping changes planned for Kansas City’s Municipal Court system can help her, her son and others with co-occurring issues — substance use and a mental health disorder.
In January, a Wellness Court will open within the Municipal Court, replacing the now separate mental health and drug courts.
The two courts had been serving the same populations, but inefficiently, said Presiding Judge Courtney A. Wachal, who will oversee the Wellness Court.
“If you’re houseless, you will probably be put in inpatient treatment,” Wachal said. “And then we will work on your houselessness issue while you’re in there. It kind of gives us, like a 30-day cushion to kind of start working on those resources.”
The mental and drug courts were part of the specialty or problem-solving courts, portions of the municipal system allowing for voluntary court-supervised programming and treatment, rather than punishment for low level offenses, such as the theft charge that Davis’s son once faced.
Previously, Municipal Court staff grappled with a chicken and egg scenario. They tried to determine which was primary to jailable charges, a person’s mental health issue or their addiction.
But accurate assessments are difficult, Wachal said, until a person is stabilized and maintaining sobriety.
For example, a person charged with a municipal offense could be initially assigned to the Mental Health Court, but then test positive for fentanyl and be reassigned to the Drug Court.
Under the Wellness Court, staff and supporting agencies will be at the same table in meetings, discussing a person’s needs.
“I think it is going to shorten wait lists, put people in available beds and then just make it more transparent about what everybody is doing for the participant,” Wachal said.
Combining the courts allows for expanded use of funds from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for housing.
No longer will a person need a qualifying diagnosis to participate, like depression, bipolar, schizophrenia or PTSD.
“We’re trying to serve everybody,” Wachal said. “It doesn’t matter what your diagnosis is. You could come into Wellness Court.”
A Women’s Court as a track within the Wellness Court will be established in March, overseen by Judge Shayla Marshall.
It will be funded by a U.S. Department of Justice grant of $656,925 and will use trauma-informed approaches for people victimized by trafficking or sexual assault.
“People who have gone through that type of trauma don’t typically disclose right away,” Wachal said. “So it’s going to be hard for us to identify who should be in that court until we get to know them and build a trust relationship.”
A Houseless Court, potentially able to meet defendants in the community, is also anticipated.
Memos of understanding are being signed with major community partners funded by the taxpayer-supported Community Mental Health Fund, whose board agreed to the changes last summer.
The levy funded organizations are University Health, Comprehensive Mental Health Services, ReDiscover and Swope Health.
Beacon Mental Health, serving Ray, Platte and Clay counties, will also be involved.
The new system is a “big step in the right direction,” said Bruce Eddy, executive director of the more than 40-year-old Jackson County mental health fund, which pays for case management.
Eddy praised the decision to make the programming a one-year commitment.
“If they abide by the court’s requirements, then they’ll be well-established in treatment and it’s the judge’s role to look at dropping the charges,” he said.
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The first full team meeting will be January 9, bringing together more than 30 organizations that will likely be involved.
Josh Henges, Kansas City’s Houseless Prevention Coordinator, called the changes transformative.
“When the court system becomes a conduit for support, whether it’s mental health care, substance use treatment, or housing assistance, it’s one of the most powerful tools a community can have,” he said.
The term wellness court can be found in other cities, but those programs tend to address mental health alone, or are tribal courts.
Kansas City’s approach will uniquely focus on co-occurring issues.
About 21.5 million U.S. adults have a co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder, according to SAMHSA’s 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Researchers estimate that about half of the people who experience a substance use disorder will also have a mental health disorder, and vice versa, according to an executive summary for the Wellness and Women’s courts.
Yet only about 10% of people with co-occurring disorders receive treatment for both conditions.
And women with co-occurring disorders are almost 20 times more likely to be arrested each year than women without a mental health or substance use disorder, the summary said.
Carly Mitchell moderated a November panel session where Wachal and two other judges discussed the upcoming changes during Kansas City’s Urban Summit.
As a clinical mental health counselor, she’s hopeful, but mindful that African Americans often aren’t treated equally in health or legal systems.
“We are a population that is either overdiagnosed or underdiagnosed, and it’s very stigmatized,” she said.
Often, Mitchell said, Black people are recognized as having a drug problem. But the underlying mental health issue goes undiagnosed and isn’t treated.
“A lot of people use (drugs) to cope,” she said.
The Wellness Court seeks to be mindful of such disparities.
It will have two tiers, as a way of being more responsive and flexible to individual needs.
Electives to help solidify health lifestyles will also be offered, a bit like what is required for college completion. Participants can attend church, go to the gym, do yoga, take a meditation course or a smoking cessation class to complete an elective.
Doug Langner, executive director of Hope Faith, a Kansas City shelter for homeless and impoverished people, said many people can and do stabilize their lives, with a bit of assistance.
He sees the court changes as a positive step.
“Oftentimes, people self-medicate through substance abuse, especially the longer they’re on the streets,” Langner said.
Davis’s son knows Hope Faith well. He planned to spend the night there the day he left court.
Hope Faith is just one of many organizations listed on the spreadsheet Davis maintains, chronicling her son’s life during the last decade.
”I think the drugs have kind of just been like a pacifier for him,” she said. “It’s like, this is how I’m going to cope with whatever’s going on inside of my mind and my life.”
The timeline of his descent into substance abuse is a heart wrenching illustration of the many shelters, sober living spaces and social service agencies that have touched his life.
His mother also notes the “bad company” that he sometimes meets, people who urged him to quit his fast food and other jobs, give him drugs, and those who threaten him with violence.
After the guardianship court hearing she explained the new approaches underway for the Municipal Court system to her son, stressing that Wellness Court is designed for people like him.
“You could be happier if you are not in this lifestyle,” she told him. “This is just no way to live. Mom’s going to help you.”
