This month’s staff highlight is Kurt Havens, our Intensive Services Unit 2 (ISU) Team Leader. Housed within the CASES Manhattan Supervised Release Program—which diverts over 5,000 New Yorkers from jail and prison every year—ISU is an alternative-to-detention for people who have been failed by more traditional supervised release services. Many participants in ISU are living with a combination of mental illness, trauma, housing insecurity, and substance use challenges that are exacerbated by the criminal legal system and make it more difficult to meet court requirements. Comprised of four Peer Specialists, four Clinical Case Coordinators, an Assistant Team Leader, a Program Assistant, a Resource Coordinator, and Kurt, the Team Leader, ISU combines various skill sets and expertise to form an interdisciplinary team working in conjunction with ISU teams 1 and 3.
Conducting 100% field-based work, ISU operates on the principle that the community is an extremely valuable resource. Instead of requiring participants to attend appointments in a traditional office setting, ISU meets people in their communities and helps them rebuild their connections there. “People are navigating the world, and despite being in the biggest city, a couple of worlds are quite small, right? And some of our participants’ worlds consist of one to two blocks that they navigate every day. And I think it’s important for us to be able to draw on different sources of information. There’s times when I’ve called a guy at a deli and I’m like, ‘Hey, have you seen Raheem today?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s right here.’ And that’s kind of a magical system.” An approach that is truly trauma-informed and person-centered, Kurt emphasizes, is one that values the importance of human relationships and pre-existing supports in the community.
As a non-traditional model without a mandatory medical or psychiatric component, ISU also prioritizes the autonomy of the participant. “Sometimes compulsory mental health treatment comes with a stigma and people don’t want to meet with those teams. So our mission is super straightforward: we need to get you to your court appearances, and we need to see you once a week in the meantime,” Kurt says. This flexible model allows for truly person-centric recovery, meaning that a participant gets to choose what’s right for them without mandated restrictions from funders or other institutions.
Voluntary aftercare is available when the program formally ends, too. Participants can elect to continue receiving services for three additional months, ensuring nobody gets left behind if they continue to face instability after completing their court requirements. Kurt actually implemented a follow-up system to make sure his participants don’t fall through the cracks of the system. For example, whenever someone is arrested, a staff member will set up a video teleconference to ask what the ISU team can do to support them in the meantime. Or if someone is institutionalized in a psychiatric unit, a staff member will visit them within 24 to 48 hours and continue to visit them to make sure they are cared for. Kurt calls this extended support the “trust bank:” “When you show up to those settings where people have experienced loss or disconnect, it’s very powerful. You’re showing up for a person that nobody else usually does, right? And that resonates, and I think the outcomes are beginning to show that.”
An ISU participant of Kurt’s, Wanda,* is a testament to the strength of this model. After a decade of trying different treatment programs, Wanda has begun to find her footing. She hasn’t been arrested since her successful completion of ISU. Not only that, but she has been connected with an Assertive Community Treatment team and will follow up with ISU aftercare until she secures housing. “ She’s doing amazing. It’s been really rewarding to see somebody who has been cycling through many programs finally get the kind of approach that meets her where she’s at but doesn’t leave her there.”
