A $600,000 state award will help expand court diversion services in Cayuga County, adding peer staff to connect adults with behavioral health needs to treatment from arraignment through reentry.
Nick’s Ride 4 Friends will receive the funding over three years as part of $2.4 million awarded to three nonprofit providers serving four counties, the New York State Office of Mental Health announced Monday.
The Cayuga County program will hire one part-time peer and two full-time peer specialists. They will focus on centralized arraignment courts and the Cayuga County Jail, identifying people who could benefit from early diversion and rapid connections to services.
The programs target adults 18 and older who have complex or chronic behavioral health issues and at least one prior involvement with the criminal justice system. The state’s goal is to connect them with community-based treatment and support while reducing pressure on courts, jails and public safety departments.
Awards support peer outreach in four counties
Helio Health will also receive $600,000 over three years for its Oneida County diversion program. That award will fund two peer specialists who will reach out to rural courts and engage adults with mental illness at the earliest point in the court process.
Their work will include connections to mental health and substance use services, along with services addressing social conditions that affect health.
Two additional grants totaling $1.2 million over three years will support ASCEND Mental Wellness programs in Washington and Warren counties. The provider will add outreach and peer specialists to its Law Enforcement Addiction and Mental Health Referral System.
That system processes referrals from law enforcement and community stakeholders while coordinating intervention plans and service connections.
“From our robust crisis services to ongoing funding for diversion programs, we are ensuring that individuals can receive services and support in appropriate, community-based settings while continuing on the path to recovery,” Office of Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said.
State reports 1,350 diversions in 2025
The Office of Mental Health supports 13 jail diversion programs statewide. Those programs served roughly 3,000 people in 2025 and helped divert 1,350 from incarceration or hospitalization, the agency said.
Services include short-term crisis stabilization, care management, discharge and reentry planning for people leaving county jails. The programs also provide supervised release services for people with mental health conditions who are under probation supervision.
Separately, the agency funds 71 court-based mental health navigators across 40 counties to coordinate voluntary care. Navigators may be caseworkers, certified peer specialists or licensed mental health professionals.
Connecting people with treatment early can reduce the number eventually found unfit to stand trial and needing restoration services, according to the agency.
The fiscal year 2025 state budget included $7.8 million for court-based mental health navigators and an additional $9.3 million in Judiciary funding to expand Mental Health Court services statewide. The court funding supported 86 additional full-time workers.
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