Criminal Justice, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Grant Planning Committee July 9, 2015

Meeting Minutes

Members Present: Peria Duncan, Honorable Denise Ferrero, Rodney Johnson for Forrest Hallam, Frances Michelle Hart-Wilhour, Herbert Helsel, Commissioner Robert Hutchinson, Richard Anderson for Dr. Maggie Labarta, Dr. Wandamaria Lopez, Honorable James P. Nilon, Diane Pearson, Richard Dykes for Stephanie Perry, Michael Reeves, Jeanne Singer, Holly Stacy, William Wall

Members Absent: Chief Tony Jones, Theresa Lowe, Virginia Seacrist, Mental Health Services Consumer (Vacant)

Others Present: Bridget Baker, Thomas Lynn, Leah Vail, Shetiquea Davis

1. Call To Order Commissioner Hutchinson called the meeting to order at approximately 12:05 PM.

2. Approval of Minutes of April 16, 2015 Committee Meeting Judge Ferrero made a motion to approve the minutes as submitted. Judge Nilon seconded and the motion carried. Commissioner Hutchinson showed the minutes as approved.

3. Acceptance of Minutes of June 18, 2015 Strategic Planning Subcommittee Meeting and June 18, 2015 Transportation MOU Subcommittee Meeting Judge Ferrero made a motion to accept the minutes as submitted. Michelle Hart-Wilhour seconded and the motion carried. Commissioner Hutchinson showed the minutes as accepted.

4. Forensic Diversion Team Implementation Progress Report Leah Vail provided a report with data updated through the end of June 2015. She reported on the number of clients admitted to date of those referred by month. A total of 137 clients were actively participating in the program at the end of June. The report also included data on several variables of interest, number of clients broken out by the 4 phases of the program, number of clients participating in groups, engagement status and data on time spent by clients in the jail versus the community.

On page 2 of the report, Ms. Vail noted that the medical appointment compliance percentage has increased significantly. She also reported that a new way of reporting SOAR benefits has been implemented. They are now being entered into a federal database which offers a lot more structure to the process.

5. Housing Research and Use of FMHI Technical Assistance Update An expert from the Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) visited with us to provide some technical assistance surrounding working on developing housing opportunities for our clients. He recommended that we continue working with local landlords to create relationships and expand our network of potential housing for our clients. Leah Vail reported that at the last meeting, a preliminary assessment of what resources we have in our community was done. The group will need to outline this information detailing what is available and to what population. They will then begin connecting with local landlords to attempt to get some agreements in place.

Discussion also included implementing some additional evidence based practices for criminal justice system clients and congregate living as a possibility.

6. Update Transportation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Funding for Van Project At the last committee meeting, there was discussion on purchasing a van that would be operated by staff at Grace Marketplace for their facility’s population. The van’s purposes would be to 1) transport people to job interviews and to jobs when public transportation is not available 2) pick up homeless people and their belongings when they need a ride to Grace Marketplace and 3) pick up food and donated materials for Grace Marketplace. Commissioner Hutchinson said that Grace Marketplace has agreed to operate the van if the County Commission can fund the purchase of the van. Commissioner Hutchinson said he and City Commissioner Randy Wells have agreed to find funding for the van through private donors. The cost of the van is estimated between $25,000 - $40,000. 1 7. Strategic Plan Review Peria Duncan reported that a repeat of the survey done in 2012-2013 will be done via survey monkey in August 2015 with the expectation that results will be available by September 2015. The survey will ask committee members about their satisfaction with services provided at each point along the criminal justice system. Commissioner Hutchinson requested that a reminder be sent out to everyone regarding the survey.

Ms. Duncan also reported that a CJMHSAG audit was conducted and new tasks have been identified as required by this body. She stated that Stuart Wegener is working on these tasks.

8. Advisory Board Annual Work Plan and Accomplishments Report The BOCC requires that the committee submit an annual work plan and accomplishments report by October 1, 2015. A workgroup has already began working on the report and will ensure it is finalized and submitted by the deadline. The workgroup includes Stuart Wegener, Leah Vail and Michael Reeves. They will email the group if there are any questions or need for any additional assistance.

9. Legislative Updates Richard Anderson reported that they ended up in pretty good shape in respect to mental health funding this year. Meridian did not receive any major cuts in funding. An addition of $39 Million to the federal grant block was approved. These funds will come down to all of the regions based on equity funding. It’s still in the process of being negotiated and discussed so we don’t know exactly how much will be coming to Alachua County.

Mr. Anderson also reported that they were given $410k to fund a “Health Home”. This home will provide integrated treatment services for those individuals with mental health and substance abuse issues who also have physical disabilities and will serve as a one-stop facility.

The Reichert House also requested funding but the request was vetoed by the Governor due to a misunderstanding of the intent of the funds and necessary justification not being submitted by the deadline. There was also a requirement for more evidence based practices in the proposal. The Department of Juvenile Justice will be implementing the Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) program at the Reichert House which is targeted for elementary school aged boys. This evidence based program will support the Reichert House as they submit their request again next year.

Commissioner Hutchinson stated that the Health Department agreed to partially staff a clinic at Grace Marketplace if the BOCC could get the capital funding to renovate the building. The request was for $1.1 Million. However, it never made it out of the committee.

10. Other Business Commissioner Hutchinson reported that the Gainesville Peer Respite Center, Inc., a local non-profit agency, has asked through a proposal to Alachua County to fund a house in a neighborhood as an alternative for assistance for persons with mental illness. The house would be run by peer specialists who are trained to provide assistance to that population. Emergency assistance would be available to people experiencing mental health crises with an option for them to check themselves in and spend up to 1 week in the house. Assistance would also be available on a walk in basis and via phone for clients as needed. Commissioner Hutchinson stated that they are currently in the process of interviewing potential Executive Directors. Staff are set up to attend training in September and it’s expected that the house will be up and running soon.

A group has met and discussed significantly increasing the number of people who are trained in Mental Health First Aid. The goal will be to have the community with the highest percentage of residents who have taken the class by the end of 2020. We are working on figuring out the capacity within our organizations to get people trained to become trainers and a structure for getting people registered to take the class. The County Manager has agreed to require probation officers, first responders and the like to take the class. The hope is that eventually more and more agencies will get on board.

Leah Vail reported that she is working with the Gainesville Police Department to facilitate more mental health first aid training, in particular for public safety staff. The goal is to schedule 2 trainings per quarter. The first training is scheduled for July 30, 2015. Also, the Florida Sheriff’s Association is working on getting law enforcement officers 2 in rural areas training in crisis intervention training (CIT). The CIT steering committee is looking at the need for training in rural areas but this will impact Gainesville as well in regards to our receiving facilities and our overall awareness of mental illness. The committee is looking at different ways that we can strategize to offer more CIT classes. They are also in search of a CIT training coordinator. 11. 2015 Meeting Schedule  October 15

All future meetings will begin at noon.

12. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 12:47 PM.

Audio Recording of Meeting Available Upon Request Attendance Report Distributed Submitted by: Shetiquea Davis, Court Services Advisory Board Liaison October 7, 2015

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