St. Louis: Let’s Break the Cycle

The St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN) believes that the best way to make St. Louis safer is to invest in programs addressing the factors that contribute to someone’s arrest.

For example, if substance abuse or housing instability are mitigating factors, we should provide drug treatment or housing solutions. By doing this, we stop the cycle of crime before someone even encounters law enforcement.

You can support our work by signing onto our letter stating that you support programs that invest in drug treatment, employment, mental healthcare, housing solutions, and similar solutions that help keep people out of jail.

Help Break the Cycle

I believe that the best way to make St. Louis safer is to provide individuals with the supports they need to find stability and positively contribute to our communities. This includes things like mental healthcare, drug treatment, employment, and housing solutions that keep people from cycling in and out of jails and makes our community safer.

Frequently Asked Questions

St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN) is a healthcare intermediary whose members collaborate across institutional boundaries to co-create and advance a common agenda focused on developing solutions that accelerate health equity by improving the quality, accessibility and affordability of healthcare for St. Louis’ most vulnerable and underserved citizens.

IHN’s Re-Entry Community Linkages (RE-LINK) initiative serves individuals who are racially and economically underserved and have been recently released from a local jail or Missouri prison.

By focusing on connecting our clients to the services they need, such as housing, transportation, healthcare, employment, and substance use and mental health services, we can decrease their likelihood of returning to the justice system. This program is free to participants.

RE-LINK clients are partnered with a community health worker (CHW) that acts as an advocate and empowerment coach who works with the client to navigate the reentry process. Clients and the team collaborate to identify and work towards individualized personal and professional goals.

The CHW helps facilitate connections to vital community resources that address the social determinants of health (housing, employment, education, substance use/mental health treatment, and transportation, etc.) that play a key factor in preventing our clients from being successful contributors within society.

A CHW is a trusted member of the community they serve who acts as a system intermediary working across social services and healthcare sectors.

CHWs work with clients, neighborhoods, organizations, and government entities to build individual and group capacity, advocate for systems change, advocate for clients, and complete outreach while addressing social needs of the community.

CHWs focus on the social determinants of health and can be found in health systems such as clinics and hospitals, justice service spaces such as jails and re-entry programs, and community-based organizations that work closely with community members

When people who are justice-involved leave jail, they often face a unique set of challenges that can limit their ability to succeed and stay out of the criminal justice system. Through collaboration and partnership, we strive for quality, accessible and affordable services to accelerate health equity in our communities. We believe this makes our communities safer and supports individuals in their journey to achieve their full potential.