Johnson County staff who helped plan and attend the 2025 Kansas Mental Health Summit reported to the Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 4 about cross-branch efforts to improve responses to people with behavioral health needs in the criminal justice system.

"The 20 25 Kansas Mental Health Summit took place August at Fort Hays State University," Kevin McGuire, a division director with the county's mental health department, told commissioners. McGuire said the event included about 51 attendees associated with the tenth judicial district, including representatives from the county manager's office, the district attorney's office, mental health corrections, district court, court services, municipal court and local law enforcement.

The summit sought to strengthen a "community of practice" spanning courts, corrections, law enforcement and behavioral health providers. McGuire said Johnson County Mental Health director Tim DeWeese led a panel on building a community of care and that the conference emphasized a continuum of care model and local planning to improve system-wide coordination.

Commissioners asked about addiction-treatment tracks and detox capacity. McGuire and county mental-health representatives said substance use disorder and medical detox were part of the summit conversation and that Johnson County Mental Health operates a social detox unit while working toward more medical detox capacity. "Medical detox is an important piece overall," McGuire said.

No formal policy votes resulted from the briefing. Commissioners thanked staff and noted opportunities to apply summit lessons to local criminal justice and behavioral health programs, including treatment courts and opioid-settlement planning.