Programs & Resources · Healthcare
Behavioral Health
In 2024, APA issued a call to action for prosecutors on mental health diversion—with tools to help offices connect individuals with behavioral health needs to community-based care.
Behavioral health and mental health diversion
In 2024, APA issued a call to action for prosecutors regarding mental health diversion. It came with resources built for day-to-day use in prosecutors’ offices: a Prosecutor-Led Diversion Toolkit and a website cataloging diversion programs across the country.
These resources aim to help prosecutors develop and implement diversion programs that connect individuals with behavioral health needs to community-based care—rather than cycling them through the criminal legal system.
Connect individuals with behavioral health needs to community-based care.
Featured resource
Prosecutor-Led Diversion
Prosecutor-Led Diversion Toolkit
Practical, step-by-step guidance for designing, launching, and sustaining a diversion program that routes people with behavioral health needs to community-based care.
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Design, implement, and evaluate
Practical guidance across the full life of a diversion program, from eligibility criteria and referral pathways to measuring whether it works.
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Learn from programs already running
A companion catalog of diversion programs across the country, searchable by model and jurisdiction.
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Build shared understanding across the system
Resources written to be read by everyone at the table—law enforcement, defense, judiciary, probation and pretrial services, service providers, policymakers, and the public.
Related from APA
Join APA
APA membership connects you to a national network of prosecutors, exclusive trainings, and collaborative opportunities—including the guidance and peer models that make behavioral health diversion work in practice.