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Proposed Mental Health Court is moving toward July 6 launch date
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Posted on Jun 01 2021
The formation of the CNMI Mental Health Court remains on track for its targeted July 6 live date, according to Superior Court Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio last Thursday.
Kim-Tenorio shared in a brief interview what is currently in the works and what needs to happen next for the Mental Health Court to make the July 6 launch date.
In a May 20 update from Associate Justice John A. Manglona, it was then learned that the treatment court is to be handled by Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja, with Kim-Tenorio and Drug Court manager Edward Diaz “heavily involved” in the drafting of the policy and procedures manual.
According to Kim-Tenorio on Thursday, a second draft of the manual is in the works, and that she has already met with some of the Mental Health Court’s future key agents.
“Right now, we are on our second draft of the policies and procedures, [and] we’ve met with a lot of our primary stakeholders,” she said.
Meetings with the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., the CNMI Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Governor, and other treatment providers have already taken place. Up next is finalizing the policies and procedures manual, assembling a Mental Health Court team, and actually implementing the program.
