Mercer Co. Treatment Court gets state funding

Staff report

MERCER, PA.

The Mercer County Treatment Court has been awarded a $38,482 implementation grant by the administrative office of Pennsylvania courts to support the early stages of its operations.

The grant will fund many aspects of the program, such as drug testing, incentives and rewards. It also will be used to help transport participants to court sessions, drug-testing sites and treatment appointments as well as to remove other obstacles that participants run into while on the road to recovery, according to a news release.

The money will be disbursed in early April and be used through March 2020. The Mercer County courts and county commissioners established the treatment court in late 2018, becoming the county’s second specialty treatment court.

It was originally funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency that had been requested by the Mercer County Criminal Justice Advisory Board.

The program has been hosting biweekly court sessions since January. At these sessions, participants report on their progress. The judge, with the assistance of a treatment team of professionals from the criminal justice and therapeutic communities, recognizes the participants’ milestones or achievements and occasional setbacks.