Judiciary names a leader of the court's behavioral health overhaul

The state judiciary this week named Esperanza Lucero to a new post leading the Administrative Office of the Court’s effort to overhaul New Mexico’s behavioral health system.

Lucero faces the task of helping break the cycle that keeps New Mexicans with untreated mental health and substance abuse problems trapped in the state’s criminal justice system.

The initiative emerged from a legislative package approved earlier this year by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers. The legislation gave the Administrative Office of the Courts a central role in forming regional behavioral health plans.

The first step in the process will be to hold a series of regional meetings that bring together people with a stake in the state’s behavioral health system, Lucero said in an interview this week.

“The Legislature wanted (the process) to be locally driven by stakeholders,” she said. Those stakeholders, including judges, law enforcement officials, behavioral health providers, public schools, faith leaders and other groups, are expected to come to the table with a variety of needs and priorities.

The “community mapping” meetings are intended to identify local behavioral health resources and plug gaps that can keep people trapped in the judicial system, Lucero said.

Lawmakers this year appropriated $1.7 million for the strategic planning process. The effort will divide the state into an undetermined number of behavioral health regions and no timeline is set for completing the project.

The ultimate goal is to “intercept” people with mental and substance abuse disorders as they move through the criminal justice system and divert them into treatment, she said. Interventions can occur at a number of points, from arrest, court hearings, jail intake, parole or reentry into the community.

The New Mexico program is modeled on one in Miami that helped reduce criminal recidivism rates from 70% to 20%, Lucero said.

A report by the New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Working Group found that nearly two-thirds of people who enter the state’s criminal justice system have an unmet behavioral health need.

Lucero previously served as director of the state Department of Health’s Center for Health Protection. She also led the Adult Protective Services Division for the Aging and Long-Term Services Department from 2021 to 2024.

“(Lucero) is a great fit for this inaugural position,” AOC Director Karl Reifsteck said in a statement. “Her experience working extensively with state and local agencies to implement policy, strategies and initiatives will help in laying the groundwork for behavioral health system improvements required by state law.”

The “community mapping” efforts began in October with meetings in the 8th Judicial District, which includes Taos, Union and Colfax counties.

Upcoming meetings will begin June 10 in the 4th Judicial District, which includes San Miguel, Mora and Guadalupe counties, and June 23 in Los Alamos County.