NM’s Behavioral Health Services Tailored to Rural Needs

When Vivian Montano was in jail, her favorite day of the week was Tuesday. That was the day she, along with a small group of other women, would be transported nearly 90 miles to the Olive Tree Creative Arts and Community Center for a day of behavioral health programming.

The programming Montano attended is part of New Mexico’s RISE (Reach Intervene Support Engage) program, which was launched in 2019 to address the dearth of behavioral health services in county jails and detention centers across New Mexico. In addition to therapeutic services inside jail facilities, participating counties are also required to provide intensive case management and community re-entry services.

In 2020, the Olive Tree began a transitional housing program, which is the “crown jewel” of Sierra County’s services, according to Mesa. The center leases a motel, where clients can stay while they apply for public or private housing and participate in daily programming at the community center.

Katharine Elverum is a senior case manager and court liaison at the Olive Tree. She tracks each client’s case, advocates for them in court, and makes sure they can follow the conditions of their release. This is critical because failure to appear in court—regardless of lack of transportation or other issues beyond a client’s control—often results in their rearrest. Elverum also helps clients enroll in state services, like Medicaid and food assistance, and get medical and psychiatric services.

This type of wrap-around support has been proven to reduce recidivism, or the number of incarcerated people who return to prison or jail. In 2019, when the RISE program began, Sierra County had a recidivism rate above 90%. Now, Daniel estimates a county-wide rate of around 75%. Among RISE program participants, the estimated recidivism rate drops to 30%, Daniel said.

Transportation is one of the key challenges for Olive Tree and its clients, who must often travel to Las Cruces (76 miles) or even Albuquerque (148 miles) for services. And because Sierra County has no jail, Olive Tree’s incarcerated clients must be driven nearly 90 miles from the detention center in neighboring Luna County to participate in the center’s programming.