Adams County court hosts rural justice exchange on health response

Judge Brett Spencer’s Adams County Court of Common Pleas put its behavioral-health response on display in West Union as rural court teams from Texas, Indiana, Arizona and Nebraska came to study how local agencies handle substance use, mental health and justice involvement. The two-day peer exchange, held May 5 and 6, focused on services Adams County residents already use: Operation Better Together, the courthouse classroom, the Justice Bus, workforce support and the REACH for Tomorrow school program.

The State Justice Institute said the exchange was designed for up to five communities, with each sending three to four practitioners at no cost through travel scholarships. The goal was practical, not ceremonial. Rural leaders were sent into a county about an hour from Cincinnati to see how courts, schools, probation, health providers and workforce partners are being tied together around one question that matters to taxpayers and court users alike: whether a small county can reduce delays, improve access and keep people connected to help without adding another layer of cost.

Much of that model grew out of an emergency community meeting Judge Spencer convened after local leaders identified childcare, transportation and housing as urgent gaps. Operation Better Together became the umbrella for the response, linking the court with schools, behavioral-health providers, law enforcement, child-welfare partners and workforce agencies. The State Justice Institute said Adams County also partnered with the University of Cincinnati to expand telehealth access at the courthouse and in local schools, turning the courthouse into more than a place for hearings.

That broader approach now includes telehealth visits, a courthouse classroom, in-person counseling, recovery specialists and the Justice Bus. The bus runs the first Tuesday of every month and provides free legal aid and services in a county where no legal aid services exist. It also includes workforce-development help through Ohio Means Jobs, aimed at helping justice-involved people move toward training, certification and jobs instead of cycling back through the system.

The school side of the model is equally wide-reaching. REACH for Tomorrow, which stands for Restoring, Educating, Advocating, Collaborating and Hope, is in all Adams County schools and serves as the school-based mental health provider for the Adams County Ohio Valley School District. The program also works with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office on crisis response and Handle With Care programming, giving the county a direct line from classroom concerns to court and public-safety partners.

The exchange came after other outside groups had already taken notice. The Rural Justice Collaborative named Operation Better Together one of six Rural Justice Innovation Sites in 2023, and the Ohio State Bar Association gave the program its 2025 Innovative Court Programs and Practices Award, citing coordination without additional cost to the community. A 2023 snapshot from the courthouse showed how far that reach had extended, with 210 participants receiving counseling in a single Tuesday alongside court classroom activity, Justice Bus outreach and transportation support. For Adams County, the peer exchange underscored a larger test now underway: whether a rural court-centered network can keep delivering measurable help without raising the bill for the people paying for it.