A pair of treatment courts in Berks County are among the first in Pennsylvania to earn certification by completing a rigorous state program.
The county’s drug and DUI courts recently completed a certification program for treatment courts statewide that was launched last spring by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, the administrative and managerial arm of the state court system.
The office launched a certification program that aims to promote effective and evidence-based practices, ensure consistent and high-quality services are available, and increase positive outcomes.
Berks Judge Eleni Dimitriou Geishauser, in announcing the certifications to the county commissioners at their weekly meeting Thursday, said the Berks courts were among six from across the state chosen to participate in the new program.
“It was a great honor for us to be chosen,” she said.
Treatment court programs offer resources to help eligible participants open doors to treatment and rehabilitation as they prepare to return to the community. The courts aim to link participants to employment, housing, treatment and other support services.
Within the treatment court system, critical focus is placed on treatment to facilitate change, rather than incarceration supported by a heightened level of judicial involvement and intensive supervision along with treatment and services.
Berks was among the first counties in the state to create a drug court in 2005. Since then, the county treatment program has expanded to include a mental health court, driving under the influence court and veterans court.
Geishauser told the commissioners the certification process was rigorous.
She said state administrators vetted every aspect of the programs — from how long it takes an individual to graduate to how many times probation officers visit participants to how many sanctions are levied to how much drug testing participants must undergo.
“It was a very deep dive into our program and I am very proud that we came out on the other side of that,” she said.
Geishauser said there are plans to enroll the mental health and veterans court programs in the certification process in the years ahead.
The commissioners congratulated those who oversee the treatment court programs.
“Nothing can happen without our teams,” Geishauser said. “We come up with the ideas and they make them happen.”
She added that they are extremely grateful for the support they have received from the county at all levels from the commissioners to Berks District Attorney John Adams to Berks Chief Public Defender Keith McConnell.
Commissioners Christian Leinbach and Michael Rivera pointed out that completing treatment court programs is not an easy task.
“This is not a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ kind of thing,” Rivera said.
Leinbach added that there is a very strict process that determines who is eligible for treatment court. But, he said, the benefits of the program on the community and to the taxpayers is a worthy investment.
“When we can divert people from jail so that they can deal with their issues through the treatment court program it makes our community safer and it absolutely changes the lives of the individuals who go through it,” he said.
Geishauser agreed.
“Most of these individuals did not start out life like many of us,” she said. “They did not have parents who made sure they got to school, cared for them and provided them with guidelines on how to make good choices. Many of them have been assaulted at very young ages, they have been in the system in other ways so they have hard work to do.”
Geishauser said seeing the progress individuals have made through treatment court programs has been one of the most rewarding aspects of her time as a county judge.