About The Presentation

This team of presenters will describe the incidence of mental illness and substance abuse among individuals in the local judicial system and in prison. They will particularly address the use and abuse of drugs in treatment. Judge Bailin and Chaplain Schjang are committed to the ongoing assistance and treatment of those who are on probation, in prison, or on parole and who are making reentry into our communities. Both are actively promoting Wellness Centers and the specialized participation of therapists and clergy.

About The Presenters

The Honorable Roxanne Bailin was Chief Judge of the 20th Judicial District (Boulder County) from 1998 to 2013. She was named to the county bench in 1983 and to the district court bench in 1987. Prior to being appointed County Judge, Judge Bailin was a Clinical Professor and Director of the Legal Aid and Defender Program at the University of Colorado School of Law.

Judge Bailin initiated the Mental Health Task Force in September 1999. She helped to develop the PACE (Partnership for Active Community Engagement) Program, which is a specialized probation program integrating mental health services, nursing services, case management, life skills, and employment and housing assistance. The program has decreased jail bed days among its population by 75%.

Beginning in 2006, Judge Bailin initiated four treatment courts to serve people with substance addiction, many of whom have co-occurring mental disorders. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Mental Health Partners and becomes Chair of the Board in October 2015.

Terry Schjang, Pastor of New Beginnings, began her theological education at Iliff School of Theology, and earned her Masters of Divinity degree from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College in Spanish and American Literature. Terry is a second career pastor who previously worked as an Account Executive in the Advertising world of New York City. Feeling a strong sense of call to prison ministry, she was encouraged to attend the fall ’12 gathering of Prison Congregations of America. There, among the voices of those who serve prison ministries, her sense of call was affirmed. She is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She has been in her call at New Beginnings for three years.

Pastor Schjang will be bringing with her a Returning Citizen, Jennifer Reali, who will share her experience of life inside as well as what that experience is allowing her to accomplish now in the world.

Additional Resources