Eleven individuals who were charged with crimes graduated from Lancaster County’s Mental Health Court Wednesday for the possibility to have those charges reduced, dismissed, and/or expunged.

The Mental Health Court’s mission is “to improve public safety and reduce recidivism rates of offenders with serious mental illness through mandatory, comprehensive, community-based treatments and services promoting community security, judicial economy, fiscal prudence and individual recovery.”

The court began in 2010 and has had 90 graduates in its 12 years of existence. The last graduation was held two years ago due to COVID-19.

Lancaster County Judge Margaret C. Miller gave welcoming remarks and introduced the Mental Health Court Team which includes Karen Andreadis, Coordinator; Robert Wentzel and Carl Driedger, Probation Officers; Danielle Peachey, BHDS Case Manager; Stephanie Smith, Assistant District Attorney; David Romano, Assistant Public Defender; Julia Hernandez and David Miller, Drug and Alcohol Commission; Eric Eshleman, Behavioral Healthcare Corporation; Chad Stains and Rebecca Sangrey, BHDS; January Abel, Recovery InSight; Christina Fluegel, LCP Inmate Service Specialist; Trina Brown-Hinton, Clerical Specialist; and Hamlet, Courthouse Facility Dog.

Other program supporters include Keystone Services, Mental Health America, Crisis Intervention Team, Arch Street Center, Community Services Group, TEMPO, COBYS Family Services, Mid Penn Legal Services, Transitional Living Center, Tenfold, Behavior Healthcare Corporation, TW Ponessa and Associates, Recovery InSight, Wellspan Philhaven, Re-Uzit Shop, and Lancaster Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

Probation Officers Wentzel and Driedger spoke to each graduate’s determination in completing the program and Assistant District Attorney Smith announced one of the graduates was approved to have her charges dismissed.

Arch Street Center Executive Director Susan Lilly was the keynote speaker, emphasizing that recovery in mental health is a journey “and a big part of that journey is making it fun and taking care of yourself” through socialization and recreation, especially during the pandemic.

Judge Miller presented each graduate with replicas of the Mental Health Bell. The bell acts as a symbol of hope, created in 1953 out of the melted down iron chains and shackles previously used to restrain those with mental illnesses by inhumane asylums.

An inscription on the bell reads, “Cast from shackles which bound them, this bell shall ring out hope for the mentally ill and victory over mental illness.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.