Cherokee Treatment Accountability Court celebrates four graduates
Cherokee County recently held a graduation ceremony for four people who completed the county’s Treatment Accountability Court program, the District Attorney’s Office announced.
District Attorney Susan Treadaway, elected officials, law enforcement, courthouse personnel, treatment providers, and family and friends attended a formal graduation ceremony this week May 2 in the Jury Assembly Room of the Cherokee County Justice Center.
Established in December 2015, TAC helps defendants suffering from mental health issues that contribute to criminal behavior. TAC serves both felony and misdemeanor offenders in Cherokee County. Since the program’s founding, 54 people have graduated.
The TAC team is comprised of a presiding judge, coordinator, case manager, and representatives from the District Attorney’s Office, Solicitor-General’s Office, Defense Bar, Cherokee Probation Service, Georgia Department of Community Supervision, treatment providers, and law enforcement. These individuals meet regularly to discuss the progress of program participants.
“Accountability courts change lives, as this week’s Treatment Accountability Court graduation ceremony clearly demonstrated,” Treadaway said in a state
ment. “By offering this alternative to carefully selected offenders, we are helping people address underlying issues so that they can become healthy and productive members of society.”
The program takes at least 18 months to complete. The length of the program is determined by individual progress, and participants do not graduate until the team believes they are ready.
During the ceremony, TAC Presiding Judge Shannon Wallace introduced
the graduates, who provided a brief testimony of their journey through the program.
One graduate said she’s suffered mental health and addiction issues throughout her life, and that the program taught her how to make the right decisions and be accountable.
“I do not know where I’d be today if it had not been for Treatment Accountability Court. I was very lost. It seemed like maybe I’d always been lost. They
helped me find my way,” she said, adding that she would likely still be “lost and broken and probably not living had it not been for this program.”
Probate Court Judge Keith Wood, who established the program, congratulated the graduates for putting in the work to make a positive change. He encouraged them to continue to prosper, to remember the tools they have learned, and to serve as an example for others.