{"id":282981,"date":"2026-02-13T23:58:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/282981\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T23:58:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:58:20","slug":"care-court-is-a-godsend-why-does-humboldts-alternative-justice-system-for-the-mentally-ill-succeed-where-so-many-others-have-failed-lost-coast-outpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/282981\/","title":{"rendered":"‘CARE Court is a Godsend’: Why Does Humboldt’s Alternative Justice System for the Mentally Ill Succeed Where So Many Others Have Failed? | Lost Coast Outpost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Several members of the CARE Court team. From left to right: Judge Timothy Canning, Jordan Lampi, Heather Durand, Luke Brownfield and Meg Swanson. | Photo: Heather Durand.<\/p>\n

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Note: The Outpost has changed the names of the CARE Court participants in this story to protect their identities.<\/p>\n

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Eight months ago, 41-year-old John Anderson was living in a makeshift shelter in the forest, struggling to cope with untreated schizoaffective disorder. Now, he has his own apartment in Eureka and the mental health support needed to rebuild his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s teeny-tiny, but it\u2019s so nice to have a place of my own,\u201d he proudly told Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Kelly Neel at a recent hearing. \u201cAnd it\u2019s all thanks to CARE Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson is a passionate advocate for CARE Court<\/a>, a voluntary court-based treatment program for adults with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychotic disorders. Enacted through the state\u2019s Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act<\/a>, the program is specifically designed for people who have lost their housing or become incarcerated due to untreated mental illness and either aren\u2019t willing or lack the decision-making capacity to seek treatment on their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In CARE Court, county attorneys and behavioral health staff work with each participant to create a CARE agreement, a voluntary treatment plan that includes behavioral health care, medications, a housing plan and other supportive services. In rare cases, the court can order a CARE plan, an involuntary agreement that can lead to court-ordered conservatorship. Each case is initiated by a petition, which can be filed by family members, first responders, mental health clinicians or the individual seeking assistance. The court\u2019s role is to oversee the case, monitor progress and provide accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know that they have the ability to do better until they\u2019re forced into a situation where they actually see themselves begin to make accomplishments.\u201d
\u2014 A CARE Court participant<\/p>\n

When Gov. Gavin Newsom first announced the new policy in 2022<\/a>, he described CARE Court as a \u201cparadigm shift\u201d in state\u2019s homeless strategy that would bring people with serious mental illness off the streets and into supportive housing. However, the program has failed to live up to expectations<\/a> in most California counties, with less than 4,000 total petitions submitted since the first phase of the program launched in October 2023, according to data from the state Judicial Branch.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Humboldt County has one of the highest referral rates per capita, with 55 petitions filed and one graduation recorded since the second phase of the program rolled out in December 2024. It\u2019s not clear how many of those petitions were for unhoused people. There are 33 local cases still moving through the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just an amazing program,\u201d Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Timothy Canning said in a recent interview. \u201cWe\u2019ve certainly had some folks come through the program [who] didn\u2019t do so well, but we\u2019ve had a number of other people who have done extraordinarily well and really gotten their lives back on track. \u2026 I think a lot of its success is owed to the behavioral health department here in Humboldt. The way they\u2019ve implemented the program [has resulted in] just amazing outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given his success with the program thus far, Anderson has become a sort of poster child for Humboldt\u2019s CARE Court. After he graduates, he wants to sign on as a peer coach to help support other people going through the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really great at working with others [and] building them up,\u201d he told the Outpost in a recent interview. \u201cNow that those doors have been open to me and I know how to apply, I want to help other people who are going through similar struggles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson started CARE Court in September 2025, just a few months after he was arrested on felony charges for threatening an elderly couple walking through the forest. He was living in the woods at the time, the result of losing both his job and his apartment. As Anderson recalls, he was deep in psychosis and \u201cscreaming at the world\u201d when he was overheard by the couple, who took his shouting as a threat and called the police. He described his arrest as \u201ca blessing in disguise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to deal with life for a year. I was just trying to remove myself from everybody and everything \u2026 but there ended up being more people around than I was used to, and they thought I was yelling at them,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe court deemed me incompetent [to stand trial because] I wasn\u2019t in the mental state to speak straight or aware of everything that was happening. I was placed in a state psychological ward for people with disabilities \u2026 where I was properly medicated and brought out of psychosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Anderson was medicated and stabilized, a psychiatrist went over the details of his diagnosis \u2014 schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type \u2014 when it finally clicked. He had been medicated for short, sporadic intervals before his arrest, but had stopped taking medication \u201cbecause the side effects became worse than the disability.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until his stint at the state hospital that he actually understood his diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith somebody like me, the disability isn\u2019t constant,\u201d Anderson explained. \u201cHalf the time I\u2019m normal \u2014 I don\u2019t appear to have a disability at all, mentally or emotionally \u2014 but when the emotional dystrophies start to affect the psyche \u2026 the chemicals of the brain chemistry [become] unstable\u2026 and then the brain functions erratically and incorrectly. I wasn\u2019t aware of any of these details about my diagnosis until after I got into the system, and they put me into this state mental health hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know that they have the ability to do better until they\u2019re forced into a situation where they actually see themselves begin to make accomplishments,\u201d he added. \u201cThis approach is only effective if the individual has the motivation for their future and their self-stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state hospital submitted Anderson\u2019s CARE Court petition on July 14, and his agreement was finalized two months later. In his case, the program is being used as mental health diversion under Penal Code 1001.36<\/a> to resolve his criminal charges. He\u2019s set to graduate from CARE Court in September 2026.<\/p>\n

\u2018CARE Court Has Been a Godsend\u2019 <\/p>\n

I was invited to observe a few CARE Court hearings last month to learn more about the dynamic between participants and the county staff who lead the program. (CARE Court participants and their family members agreed to be involved in this story on the condition of anonymity.) That\u2019s where I met Anderson and Jason Johnson, a 40-year-old man from Southern Humboldt who\u2019s just two months into the program.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s parents filed a petition in October, and the court entered his CARE agreement in December. Judge Neel and the county attorneys representing Johnson didn\u2019t get into the details of his case, but said he\u2019s using CARE Court as an avenue to resolve criminal charges. His diversion plan is slated for approval next month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here today to check in and encourage him to stick to his treatment plan,\u201d Deputy County Counsel Heather Durand told the court during Johnson\u2019s progress review hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point in proceedings, Humboldt County Public Defender Luke Brownfield leaned over to his client and asked if he needed help with anything. Johnson quietly explained that he recently lost his job and had been pretty lonely living by himself. \u201cI\u2019m OK,\u201d he shrugged.<\/p>\n

His father, who was the only person other than me seated in the gallery, stood up and explained to the court that he and his wife were hoping to move their son to Eureka, but said they were having a hard time finding a renter or buyer for their house in Southern Humboldt. He noted that his son had been ostracized from his small community after his \u201cbreak with reality\u201d and hoped he could make a fresh start in Eureka, where he\u2019d be closer to mental health resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can use all the help we can get,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Without missing a beat, Durand said the county could help him find housing. Looking up at Judge Neel, she asked if the court would add housing to Johnson\u2019s priority list and provide an update at his hearing next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CARE Court Clinician Jordan Lampi asked if it would be possible to relocate Johnson down to Sonoma County, where his parents live, if he\u2019s approved for diversion. Judge Neel said that could probably be arranged, but his father seemed hesitant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just doing so well here,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to me directly, his father explained how difficult it can be for parents to advocate for their adult children when they\u2019re experiencing a mental health crisis and navigating the judicial system. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t even talk to his lawyer,\u201d he said. \u201cCARE Court is a godsend.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged me to call him if the state ever threatened to dismantle the program.<\/p>\n

The final hearing of the day was for 55-year-old Mark Thomas, whose CARE agreement was being submitted to the court for consideration. After a criminal arrest late last year, Thomas was committed to a state hospital after being deemed incompetent to stand trial. The state hospital had submitted the petition on his behalf. At the time of his hearing last month, he had not been approved for diversion and was still in custody.<\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019 wife and elderly mother sat in the gallery as Brownfield went over the next steps for his treatment plan. \u201cWe just want what\u2019s best for him,\u201d his mother said, adding that she and his wife want to stay informed of his treatment plan but don\u2019t want to serve as his primary support. \u201cWe want a trained person [in that role] because we don\u2019t think he\u2019ll listen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court agreed and also assigned Thomas a medical case manager to oversee his medications. His next hearing was scheduled for two weeks later.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re Going to Use This to Help People\u2019<\/p>\n

Sitting in a conference room on the second floor of the courthouse, I asked the CARE Court team \u2014 Brownfield, Durand, Lampi and Meghan Sheeran, a behavioral health clinician with the county\u2019s Comprehensive Community Treatment (CCT) program<\/a> \u2014 to try to explain why Humboldt\u2019s program has been such a success and how it differs from other California counties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gotta admit \u2026 I didn\u2019t even want to do CARE Court,\u201d Durand said. \u201cI had a really negative attitude about the legislation because I didn\u2019t think it was going to work. \u2026 I remember in, like, October 2024, telling Luke [Brownfield], \u2018This is dumb, this is never going to work.\u2019 And he looked at me, and he said, \u2018We\u2019re going to use this to help people, right?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m going to try.\u2019 We just didn\u2019t know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to CARE Court\u2019s statewide launch in December 2024, counties that hadn\u2019t implemented the program braced for thousands of petitions to flood their systems. The local team had already been hard at work identifying people in need, many of whom had been in and out of jail or living on the streets for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all the counties were preparing, but we already had a list of names assembled prior to implementation,\u201d Durand said. \u201cWhen December hit, we started filing petitions right away. And, from what I understand, other counties were waiting for the floodgates to open \u2026 but that didn\u2019t happen. We had heard in the press and from the governor\u2019s office that there were going to be thousands of cases statewide, but that just didn\u2019t happen. \u2026 I guess we had a different mindset for whatever reason, and we just hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durand and Brownfield attributed their success, at least in part, to their ability to work well together, despite the fact that they\u2019re generally on opposing sides of the courtroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both want people to get help,\u201d Durand said. \u201cAnd I want to point out that we\u2019re not giving people a pass. We\u2019re talking about people who \u2026 are just going to reoffend because they have not been set up to succeed. \u2026 We\u2019re trying to stop that. It\u2019s going to save the taxpayers a ton of money and it\u2019s going to protect the public because these people actually get treatment instead of just being thrown out on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n


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The Comprehensive Community Treatment (CCT) team, a division of county government\u2019s Behavioral Health Services program. From left to right: Aegean Ebbay, Peter Lomely, James Rockwell (seated), Laura McArdle, Noah West-Pape and Meghan Sheeran. | Photo: Meghan Sheeran.<\/p>\n

As a behavioral health clinician, Sheeran says CARE Court has given service providers the ability to reach a segment of the population that was previously inaccessible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To illustrate her point, Durand drew three squares on a sheet of paper \u2014 \u201cassisted outpatient treatment (AOT)<\/a>\u201d on the left, \u201cCARE\u201d in the center and \u201cLPS conservatorship<\/a>\u201d on the right. She explained that CARE Court provides another option for people who need more support than an AOT program can offer, but don\u2019t qualify for conservatorship because they aren\u2019t considered gravely disabled, meaning they can still meet their basic needs for food, clothing and shelter.<\/p>\n

(Note: The definition of \u201cgravely disabled\u201d was recently expanded to include \u201cpersonal safety and medical care\u201d as basic needs. \u201cGravely disabled\u201d is also defined as \u201ca result of a mental health disorder, impairment by chronic alcoholism, severe substance use disorder, or a co-occurring mental health disorder and severe substance use disorder.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cFor shelter, if you got a tent and a sleeping bag and you\u2019re camped out somewhere \u2014 that\u2019s considered a shelter under the law,\u201d Durand said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about [in terms of grave disability] is someone who\u2019s lying on the sidewalk without anything, and it\u2019s 34 degrees and raining outside. \u2026 Those are the people who end up on LPS conservatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

AOT, on the other hand, applies to people who are \u201ccapable enough to schedule appointments and take medication with assistance,\u201d Durand continued. \u201cThere is help with managing medication, but they\u2019re able to manage on an outpatient basis. In my opinion, CARE targets this in-between population: the people who aren\u2019t sick enough to end up [in a conservatorship] but who aren\u2019t well enough to take care of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem is, CARE agreements are almost always voluntary, unless they\u2019re tied to a court-ordered diversion agreement or a person is determined to be gravely disabled. A petition can be filed on someone\u2019s behalf, but that doesn\u2019t mean they have to stick with the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of these people have had behavioral health staff try to help before, but it\u2019s the same thing over and over again,\u201d Sheeran said. \u201cI can\u2019t say \u2018You must do this [program].\u2019 I can say, \u2018If you don\u2019t, your long-term outcome is not good. Please, let us help you.\u2019 An not every individual we\u2019re working with is getting that picture \u2026 but we just have to keep coming back, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year we lose people on the streets, and anything we can do to prevent that, I would love to do,\u201d she added. \u201cThey all deserve a whole group of people out there trying to turn things around and give them their best life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durand acknowledged the public sentiment that the county isn\u2019t doing enough to help people living on the streets. The 2024 Point-In-Time County identified 1,573 unhoused people county. Some of those folks qualify for CARE Court, but many others don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [there\u2019s] a community perception of \u2018Why do you have all these people out here walking around on the street and sleeping in the alcoves? They\u2019re clearly mentally ill \u2014 why aren\u2019t you helping them?\u2019 They have a right to live their life the way they want to,\u201d she said, emphasizing again that the county can\u2019t force people into treatment unless they are gravely disabled. \u201cI really do think [CARE] is a really valuable tool.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still a relatively new program, and the CARE Court team hopes it will become more successful as time goes on and more funding becomes available to support staff. In the meantime, they\u2019ll continue to help who they can, like Anderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore CARE Court, I didn\u2019t have the opportunities I have now, and they opened up all the doors to the different outlets in the community that I needed for aid,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to focus more on the success rates and realize how big a deal it is, even though the statistics are small.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Several members of the CARE Court team. From left to right: Judge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-282981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}