Judges as Champions for Suicide Prevention

Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 9:00pm ET

Court is in session! Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren is an activist, an advocate and declared the Mental Health Court in Broward County a Zero Suicide initiative.

What? Why? What compelled her to take such a radical and visionary stand?

A Problem-Solving court?

How does prejudicial judgement (stigma) impact the work of the courts?

What is Therapeutic Jurisprudence?

How do judges become #Champions4SuicidePrevention?

And what is Judge Wren’s vision for mental health & social justice in America?

Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren

Broward County Court Judge

Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, State of Florida

 Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren earned her B.A. degree in Politics and Public Affairs, 1980, University of Miami and J.D. from Shepard Broad College of Law, Nova Southeastern University, 1983 and was elected Broward County Court Judge in 1997.  Judge Lerner-Wren pioneered the first problem solving Mental Health Court in the United States, dedicated to the decriminalization and community-based treatment of persons arrested with mental illness and co-occurring disorders and has diverted more than 21,000 people out of Broward’s jail.

Broward’s Mental Health Court is a national and global model.  Recognitions include:  Broward’s Court was the model for The America’s Law Enforcement & Mental Health Project signed into law by President Bill Clinton in November, 2000.  The Court was showcased at The White House, Conference on Mental Health.   In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Judge Wren to serve on The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, where she chaired the criminal justice subcommittee.

In 2013, Judge Wren was selected Top Finalist, Innovating Justice Award, Hiil Foundation, The Hague, and The Netherlands and received National Council Advocacy and Excellence Award “Elected Official Service” in 2015.  She serves on the Board of Governors, United Way of Broward County Commission on Behavioral Health and Drug Prevention and the Executive Committee, National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Advisory Board, International Society Therapeutic Jurisprudence Advisory Board.

Judge Lerner-Wren speaks nationally and internationally on problem-solving justice and mental health courts.  She is an adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University and writes on diverse subjects (i.e. mental health, criminal justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, disability and human rights.)  Judge Lerner-Wren is the author of, “A Court of Refuge:  Stories from the Bench of America’s First Mental Health Court” published by Beacon Press in 2018.