Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

New Therapeutic Courts Web Page Provides Comprehensive Information and Tools

A comprehensive new Washington Therapeutic Courts web page has launched this week containing an interactive map of therapeutic courts operating in each county, along with contact information and links and a schedule of events. The site also contains an innovative new tool that can be used by courts to evaluate whether they are meeting their goals.

Therapeutic courts are courts with specialized dockets (schedules of hearings) that incorporate treatment services and judicial supervision in lieu of traditional sentencing. The courts hold offenders accountable while also addressing underlying issues — such as addiction, mental health and trauma — that contribute to ongoing criminal behaviors. Therapeutic courts include drug courts, mental health courts, veterans courts, DUI courts, family treatment courts and more.

Developed by the Administrative Office of the Courts’ (AOC’s) Behavioral Health and Web Services teams, the new web page describes in detail the different types of therapeutic courts and how they function to address specific areas of treatment, additional requirements that must be met by participants, and ongoing oversight. The web page also provides data where it is available, and links to state and national offices.

The new web page is a resource for courts as well as the public. It includes a unique new self-assessment tool to help courts measure how well they are meeting best practices.

The Washington Therapeutic Court Evaluation and Review (WATER) tool was developed in partnership between AOC’s Office of Court Innovation, the Washington State Healthcare Authority (HCA), and the Center for Justice Innovation. The new tool was unveiled last week at the Washington State Association of Drug Court Professionals (WSADCP) annual statewide conference held in Tukwila. The conference was sponsored by AOC, the HCA and the Treatment Court Institute and provided information on the importance of incorporating the voice of people with lived experience; the impacts of fentanyl in Washington; holistic approaches to veterans treatment courts; increasing accessibility for people of color, tribal, transgender and trauma-impacted court participants; barriers to therapeutic court enrollment, and more.

“Washington was one of the earliest adopters in the nation of the therapeutic courts model, using data and best practices to ensure the model worked to address addiction, reduce recidivism and improve the safety of our communities,” said Washington State Court Administrator Dawn Marie Rubio. “As the work of therapeutic courts continues to grow and evolve in Washington, AOC is proud to work with our partners to continue that innovation and support for this important component of our justice system.”

CONTACT: Lorrie Thompson, Senior Communications Officer, Administrative Office of the Courts, Lorrie.Thompson@courts.wa.gov;  Behavioral Health Team Program Specialist Alexandra Donnici, Alexandra.Donnici@courts.wa.gov.