Ensuring people receive care in the least restrictive, least costly settings.
Too many people in our state receive care in costly, late-stage settings, including hospital emergency rooms, jails, and prisons. By diverting people to appropriate settings of care, Oklahoma can decrease costs and better ensure that people receiving treatment for mental illness or substance use disorders safely remain in the community.
Much of Healthy Minds’ research focuses on gaps in Oklahoma’s continuum of care for adults, youth, and children, as well as crisis response systems at the state and local levels. Partnering with policymakers, treatment providers, and community leaders, we help install interventions and programs that improve access to care for Oklahoma’s most vulnerable residents.
increase in Oklahoma's per-capita rate of unintentional methamphetamine overdose deaths during the past 10 years.
Source: Oklahoma State Department of Health
of people in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections are estimated to have a serious mental illness.
Source: ODOC
Oklahoma adults — 5.5% —had serious thoughts of suicide in 2022.
Source: 2024 State of Mental Health Report, Mental Health America
Essential research
A practical path forward for criminal justice diversion in Oklahoma
In this report, we present recommendations with broad support from a variety of justice system stakeholders about ways to divert people with mental health and substance use conditions away from jails and into treatment.
Bringing criminal justice diversion services to scale in Oklahoma
Healthy Minds outlines where Oklahoma's diversion services must grow to meet demand — and quantifies the economic benefits our state can expect in return.
How 988 fits into a statewide crisis response continuum
The rollout of 988 in Oklahoma coincides with the launch of what state leaders call a comprehensive crisis response system, an array of services that include mobile crisis responders and in-person emergency centers with the goal of saving lives, connecting people to resources, limiting unnecessary interactions with law enforcement, and reducing the use of emergency medical services.
This primer breaks down the history of 988, the changes Oklahomans can expect, and considerations for local communities.
