KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Thursday, roughly 30 people went before a judge in Kansas City, Missouri's newly created Wellness Court.
It's an option at the municipal court level for those facing ordinance violations.
Instead of facing jail time, participants can go the diversion route by completing a year-long program tackling mental health and substance abuse issues.
It's an alternative that helped Rachel Mossman, who's now a peer support specialist in Wellness Court after completing the city's drug court program four years ago.
"Court diversion for me, it was pretty much life or death from where I was to where I am now. It’s a complete 180, I'm a completely different person than who I was," Mossman explained.
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In addition to staying clean and sober for more than four years, she's paying her success forward by helping others in court, reminding them she was once in their shoes.
"So it’s possible, anything is possible. And now I get to help others get through it like it’s a blessing. It’s a blessing to be able to help others get through it, too," Mossman added.
The Wellness Court combines what was previously the Drug Court and Mental Health Court in Kansas City.
"Something we were seeing when we had separate courts was that people were getting transferred back and forth between the two because most of the participants had co-occurring disorders. And so we are bringing the whole treatment team together in one staffing, so they don’t need to worry about referring people out. Everyone will be at the table," explains Judge Courtney Wachal.
By offering services under one umbrella, experts within the court system say they hope to better serve individuals and get them on the road to rehabilitation and being productive members of society.
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