Office of Judicial Administration
TOPEKA—The second Kansas Mental Health Summit is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at Fort Hays State University in Hays. It supports a national initiative to improve court and community response to mental health issues that bring people to court.
The 2025 summit will feature national and local presenters who will educate and inform participants on how each system partner can contribute. The first Kansas Mental Health Summit was in 2022.
Mental Health Summit history
The 2022 Kansas Mental Health Summit was the first of its kind in the state. It was based on a 2019 regional summit involving the National Center for State Courts, the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators, and the State Justice Institute.
“Our first Mental Health Summit led to Chief Justice Marla Luckert’s administrative order for our judicial districts to develop multibranch communities of practice,” said District Judge Robert Wonnell, 10th Judicial District, who chairs the summit planning committee. “Since the order, 26 of 31 districts have a community of practice or are getting one started.”
Luckert signed Administrative Order 2022-CM-074 which created a statewide multibranch community of practice delegation and encouraged chief judges to create local communities of practice to act as liaisons to the statewide delegation.
“That first summit was a catalyst for us to break out of our silos and bring together the courts, law enforcement, mental health providers, and the community to improve our response to mental health issues,” Luckert said. “We have the power to provide people with mental health issues the resources they need to break the cycle of returning again and again to the justice system.”
A multibranch community of practice is composed of representatives from the court, community supervision, law enforcement, health care, behavioral health, and other community members. They provide a framework for members to share experiences, develop strategies, solve problems, and communicate needs.
“This isn’t a one-size-fits all issue,” Wonnell said. “What works in Hiawatha may not work in Hutchinson, which is why it’s so important that individual districts are meeting regularly, learning issues, and working together.”
From learning to legislation
Wonnell said information from these communities of practice helped lead to the Legislature passing House Bill 2353 in 2024. The bill amended the Care and Treatment Act for Mentally Ill Persons to extend the time someone may be held for treatment and added conditions for ordering continued treatment.
“The fact that individuals came together discussed their positions, worked up an idea, and that it passed unanimously, is significant,” he said. “In two years we went from the original bill dying in committee without a hearing to not a single member of the House or Senate voting no on the issue.”
Wonnell said the importance of the summit is shown by the state officials scheduled to give opening remarks: Governor Laura Kelly, Chief Justice Marla Luckert, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, and Fort Hays State University President Tisa Mason.
“I’m a big multibranch proponent,” he said. “The only way we're going to figure out how to address the issues is to bring together all levels of government.”
Videoconference registration for the summit is open. Registration for in-person attendance is closed.