Professionals’ perceptions of the Saskatoon Mental Health Strategy (MHS) Court: a qualitative analysis

The Saskatoon Mental Health Strategy (MHS) aims to improve supervision for justice-involved individuals with mental illness and cognitive impairments. Given the limited research on certain aspects of mental health courts, the current study seeks to add to this growing body of literature by exploring professionals' perceptions of the Saskatoon MHS Court. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of nine professionals involved in the Saskatoon MHS Court, and results were divided into three main themes (balancing priorities and viewpoints, resources, and connections) with corresponding subthemes. Despite challenges, professionals thought that the Court was meeting its goals by treating the underlying causes of offending behaviour rather than simply criminalizing the behaviours. Suggestions for improving the overall effectiveness and functioning of the Court are discussed.