There’s plenty of bad days in Courtroom 1 of the Manchester Court House – but on this day, on the table where defendants wait nervously for a stern, black-robed judge to tell them if they are going to jail or not, Judge Mansi Shah laid down pizza boxes and turned to give Charlesha Washington a hug.

“Did you walk the dogs?” the judge asked, smiling.

It was a catch phrase of Washington’s as she progressed through the rigors of the Richmond General District Court’s behavioral health docket – an alternative for people with mental illness who are charged with certain crimes. It says that if they stick to a program of treatment and report to probation officers for drug testing, their charges can be dismissed.

People are also reading…

But it wasn’t until some weeks into her 7 1/2-month journey, that the judge finally learned Washington meant it to say she was doing OK that day.

Finding hope in courts’ behavioral health dockets

“And I learned that she really did walk her dogs,” the judge said.

“I really do,” Washington said.

Washington landed in the behavioral docket the way people do, an arrest, in her case on a charge of assault and battery. But the behavioral docket is a mix – a judge’s potential big stick and help from a team comprising Richmond Behavioral Health Authority staff, probation services, prosecutor, public defender and police who might get at the underlying issues that could turn a life around.

“When I first came here, I was scared of her, but she was so supporting, so enthusiastic,” Washington said of the judge who had just hugged her, but who sat on the high bench in those black robes on court day for docket participants.

“I felt so alone trying to cope,” Washington said after the hugging. “But I was here with other people; I saw that other people were trying, too.”

There were plenty of hugs Friday, as Shah gave recent graduates of the docket program their certificates and a yellow rose – though Paul Fox, 64, handed his back to the judge: “She saved my life,” he said, adding that he finally saw a way out of a trap of mental illness.

“I still keep your letter in my file,” she told him.

Fox, who got into the program after his arrest on a charge of failure to appear, wrote that letter asking to participate in the docket, though he wasn’t sure he qualified. He pledged he would change a life that had brought him in and out of jail many times.

“Mr. Fox was well-known to us,” said Richmond police Lt. Shane Waite. “I’m so happy to see you so changed … it just feels so good to see.”

Shah would take Fox’s letter out of her files, too, from time to time. It was a reminder to help keep him on track as he struggled through the docket’s regimen of court appearances, probation checks, counseling and group sessions. She read it too when he broke the rules – in his case “going MIA” to a sober living program in Kentucky.

But he came back, though coming back means the tough challenge of starting over.

Fox became the “O.G.” – for docket participants it means original group member, the mentor in weekly substance abuse and trauma recovery group sessions, and not its street meaning of “original gangster.” 

Now, once he finishes paying off his accumulated court fines, he wants to head back to Kentucky to train to become a peer support specialist.

“I think I can help other people,” he said. “That’s what I want to do.”

Close

On Tuesday, local artist Hamilton Glass sketched part of a mural design on a wall of the main building of Richmond Behavioral Health. The wall faces East Canal Street.

Awtum Johnson, a support coordinator with Richmond Behavioral Health, and artist Hamilton Glass work on a mural celebrating RBH’s 25th anniversary. Glass was working with employees to create the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

(L-R) Awtum Johnson, a support coordinator with Richmond Behavioral Health, and Brenay Brockenbrough, a case worker with RBH, work on a mural celebrating RBH’s 25th anniversary. Artist Hamilton Glass was working with employees to create the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

Awtum Johnson, a support coordinator with Richmond Behavioral Health, helps paint a mural at RBH’s main building. RBH is celebrating a quarter-century of work.

Brenay Brockenbrough, a case worker with Richmond Behavioral Health, works on a mural celebrating RBH’s 25th anniversary. Artist Hamilton Glass was working with employees to create the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

(L-R) Carla Heath, a peer specialist coordinator with Richmond Behavioral Health, and Awtum Johnson, a support coordinator with RBH, work on a mural celebrating RBH’s 25th anniversary. Artist Hamilton Glass was working with employees to create the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

Artist Hamilton Glass draws a circle on a mural celebrating Richmond Behavioral Health’s 25th anniversary. RBH employees were helping paint the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

Artist Hamilton Glass draws a circle on a mural celebrating Richmond Behavioral Health’s 25th anniversary. RBH employees were helping paint the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

On Tuesday, local artist Hamilton Glass sketched part of a mural design on a wall of the main building of Richmond Behavioral Health. The wall faces East Canal Street.

Awtum Johnson, a support coordinator with Richmond Behavioral Health, and artist Hamilton Glass work on a mural celebrating RBH’s 25th anniversary. Glass was working with employees to create the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

(L-R) Awtum Johnson, a support coordinator with Richmond Behavioral Health, and Brenay Brockenbrough, a case worker with RBH, work on a mural celebrating RBH’s 25th anniversary. Artist Hamilton Glass was working with employees to create the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

Awtum Johnson, a support coordinator with Richmond Behavioral Health, helps paint a mural at RBH’s main building. RBH is celebrating a quarter-century of work.

Brenay Brockenbrough, a case worker with Richmond Behavioral Health, works on a mural celebrating RBH’s 25th anniversary. Artist Hamilton Glass was working with employees to create the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

(L-R) Carla Heath, a peer specialist coordinator with Richmond Behavioral Health, and Awtum Johnson, a support coordinator with RBH, work on a mural celebrating RBH’s 25th anniversary. Artist Hamilton Glass was working with employees to create the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

Artist Hamilton Glass draws a circle on a mural celebrating Richmond Behavioral Health’s 25th anniversary. RBH employees were helping paint the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

Artist Hamilton Glass draws a circle on a mural celebrating Richmond Behavioral Health’s 25th anniversary. RBH employees were helping paint the artwork at 107 South 5th Street Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The mural will cover the wall facing East Canal Street.

Source link

The post Hope in a court mental health docket appeared first on Minds Valley.

Nick Chu is sworn in, after being appointed to the new Probate Court No. 2 (Provided by Nick Chu)

Think of the most shockingly brutal and random attacks you’ve ever read about, and the attacker was almost certainly out of touch with reality. Whether such violence is best stopped by jailing people or treating them is an ongoing debate in America, but, as it is, schizophrenia is treatable and our jail is full.

That’s why advocates and officials alike are devoting much of their time to developing new routes for mental health diversion – instead of sending folks to jail, sending them to doctors. Ideally, that diversion can happen before a criminal case even goes to trial. Enter the county’s new Probate Court No. 2, created by the Texas State Legislature this session.

Probate courts don’t get as much attention as your typical criminal courts, but they play a crucial role in keeping communities safe. Probate judges make decisions about court-ordered mental health treatment in civil cases. Judge Nick Chu will be especially focused on that element of his new job starting Oct. 1, when he takes over Travis County’s second probate court. (The first is run by Judge Guy Herman.)

Part of what makes a probate court a powerful tool in mental health diversion is its division from the criminal process. In a criminal case, if a defendant is deemed incompetent to stand trial, they are placed in jail and on a waiting list for care at psychiatric hospitals. In Texas, that waiting list is so long that many defendants instead spend a year or more in solitary confinement in jail. Compare that to when a probate judge rules that someone needs treatment because they are a danger to themselves or others. Jail isn’t on the table, and the court order isn’t just for the patient – it’s for the hospital. Providers must make that treatment happen.

After six years as Justice of the Peace for Precinct 5, running one of the busiest courts in the county, Chu is well connected in the county attorney’s office that handles misdemeanors like criminal trespassing. These low-level offenses often bring unhoused Austinites with severe mental health issues to the county’s attention. Chu says he’s planning to do all he can to help as prosecutors drop criminal cases and move mentally ill defendants over to the civil side, where Chu can ensure they receive treatment when it’s merited. This process dovetails with the county’s proposed mental health diversion center, which would create beds for involuntary mental health treatment.

“Right now mental health diversion is mostly thought of in the sense of diverting them away from criminal sentencing and prison time and final conviction,” Chu said. “The idea behind the county’s mental health diversion center is moving that target backwards in time, and saying, OK, this person picked up a criminal trespass case, but mental health caused them to show up in the place they weren’t supposed to be.”

Chu will handle some other relatively small cases, too – sorting out inheritances after death, assigning guardianships, and determining conservatorships (like Britney Spears’ famous conservatorship – but hopefully not like hers, if you know what I mean). “The easiest way to think about the probate court is that it’s a misnomer,” Chu said. “Really it’s a mental health court first, that also handles probate matters.”

As for mental health cases, there are a few main ways people end up in probate court. The first is that police identify a need after being called to help people in a suicidal state, or when, “a friend or family member or coworker says hey, something’s not right with this person, and police from the mental health unit checks up on them,” Chu says. In other cases, doctors in a hospital find that a patient doesn’t have a physical condition but needs specialized psychiatric care that they are resistant to. But the county attorney’s office can identify cases too.

One of Chu’s key goals as the new mental health probate judge is to make transitions from criminal to civil court smooth. “There’s a criminal silo and there’s a civil silo, and my goal is to break down those silos,” he said. “My goal is to make it an easy transition, in one system, so we don’t lose time because of this transfer.”

How much will this process increase the number of overall cases in our two probate courts? Chu says it’s “a little bit of an unknown,” but it would be “a good increase, because it’s less folks’ cases in the criminal system and more treatment in the civil system.”

“I think folks just need to understand there is no silver bullet for all of this. We can’t snap our fingers and say this [one process] is what it is and this is how it’s solved. It’s going to take a lot of bringing people together, creative thinking, and making sure these things get done and that they’re at the forefront of people’s minds.”

Got something to say? The Chronicle welcomes opinion pieces on any topic from the community. Submit yours now at austinchronicle.com/opinion.

Source link

The post New Mental Health Court Aims to Increase Treatment While Reducing Jail Stays: Nick Chu will take over the court Oct. 1 – News appeared first on Minds Valley.

CARE Court, a controversial and costly initiative set to launch in eight California counties by December before going statewide, gives hope to many.

Under the program, judges will be able to order people with untreated psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, to get help, with counties required to provide the aid. Anita Fisher sees it as a possible lifeline for people like her son, Pharoh Degree, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia while serving in the Army 22 years ago. He’s now 45 and said living with the illness can be difficult.

“Constant overthinking,” he said, describing how difficult experiencing schizophrenia can be when it’s untreated. “Your brain is always racing, your inner voice is always talking, racing, racing. No peace. Never any solace and peace.”

Why do supporters say CARE Court is needed?

Until now, Fisher says there has been little recourse to make sure her son gets help. Her son stopped taking his medication last year. For seven months, Fisher called for a psychiatric intervention, but without her son’s consent, she says her attempts were ignored.

Pharoh became homeless. Fisher spent days searching for him at local spots near their home. She said it was clear he was unwell when she found him.

Anita Fisher works as a mental health advocate. Her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

60 Minutes

“He would be, ‘I’m fine.’ But no, he wouldn’t look fine at all,” Fisher said.

Last October, he was arrested for vandalism. In custody, he received medication and enrolled in a treatment program. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fierce advocate for CARE Court, describes the current system as a “fail-first system” rather than a “care-first system.”

“Which means you have to end up in the criminal justice system before finally someone provides support, and a bed and a solution,” Newsom said. “We’ve got to change that. And that’s what we’re doing.”

California already has laws on the books to help many of those with a severe mental illness, but many believe the current laws fall short. Critics have said the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which sets rules for involuntary psychiatric treatment, kicks in too late, only helping when someone is already in crisis. Laura’s Law, which authorizes assisted outpatient treatment, or court-ordered mental health treatment plans, has also been largely seen as a failure because it is not statewide and was not implemented with significant funding attached. 

On any given night, more than 170,000 people are living on California’s streets or in its shelters. About 1 in 4 has a serious mental illness. The Newsom administration believes CARE Court, which is not restricted to those experiencing homelessness, will help an estimated 12,000 people.

While Fisher, who also works as a mental health advocate, hopes her son never needs CARE Court, she said she wouldn’t hesitate to initiate proceedings for it. 

“I hope that if it does, that he even sees it as a positive experience where his voice is heard,” she said. 

Who is eligible for CARE Court and how does it work?

Only those 18 and older with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders are eligible for CARE Court. Other eligibility requirements include the individual’s likelihood of surviving safely in the community without supervision or without harming themself or others. Individuals are also only eligible if it is deemed  likely that the person will benefit from being a CARE Court  participant.

A person referred to CARE Court for a severe mental illness is evaluated and a CARE Court judge reviews the petition, which can be filed by a close family member, roommate, hospital director, first responder, police officer or licensed behavioral health professional. 

If the individual is considered likely to meet the required criteria, the judge can order a clinical evaluation. Based on those results, a judge can order a mental health treatment plan including medication, therapy and a place to live. The plan will run for one year, with a one-time option to extend the plan for a second year. 

Those in CARE Court will have access to a public defender and can refuse treatment without being sent to jail, but there’s a catch. If someone in CARE Court does refuse treatment, a judge could refer them for conservatorship — an extreme outcome that strips them of rights and forces them to comply with treatment. 

The controversy over CARE Court

Critics say the program, set to launch statewide by the end of next year, is coercive, removing choices and forcing treatment. Eve Garrow, a homelessness policy analyst for the ACLU of Southern California, sees the state plan as a pipeline to conservatorship and the deprivation of civil liberties. Among other things, she worries people would lose the right to determine what medications go into their bodies.

“There’s no forced medication, but when there’s pressure and coercion, you’re more likely to potentially comply with treatment that actually isn’t meeting your needs,” Garrow said. 

Garrow believes the state should provide comprehensive care for all Californians with mental health disabilities, she said. She sees it as a plan that could be a reality if California invests in those services instead of diverting funds to the new court system. 

The Newsom administration invested about $17 billion to fight homelessness and treat mental illness this year. But leaders in many counties say money earmarked for CARE Court is nowhere near enough for the thousands of people expected to land in the system.

Some of that money will go toward Los Angeles, a county where 1 in 8 of the nation’s homeless people live. Marquesha Babers, 28, was homeless for years, on and off, in the area’s notorious Skid Row. When 60 Minutes met Babers, she was living in a shelter and told us she had several serious mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder.

Marquesha Babers has dealt with homelessness. She told 60 Minutes she has several serious mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder.

60 Minutes

“I go almost every day to ask if I could speak to a therapist or if I can, you know, get some mental health services or help,” Babers said. “And there are really none. Or if you do find one it’s like, ‘Oh, well, the waiting list is six months before you can actually talk to a therapist.'”

She does not support CARE Court and said she views it as “medical incarceration” because of the threat of conservatorship, where people can be locked up in psychiatric facilities and treated without their consent.

“I think there just needs to be way more attention to services and prevention rather than the consequences of not having those services,” she said.

Last month, Babers was reported missing by her family. 

Many of Babers’ concerns about CARE Court have also been voiced by advocacy groups. In all, more than 50 advocacy groups have condemned CARE Court as a “costly mistake” that’s “likely to do real harm.” 

Newsom counters that conservatorship as a possibility is nothing new. He understands that people don’t want to see it happen, but it’s a reality already and he believes CARE Court could be key to ensuring that some people experiencing psychotic disorders get the help they need.

“And here’s all I ask: prove us wrong,” Newsom said. “Don’t assume us wrong. Your compassion is not superior to our compassion.”

This story was reported by: Cecilia Vega, Natalie Jimenez Peel, Jaime Woods

More from CBS News

Aliza Chasan

Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBS News.

Source link

The post California CARE Court takes aim at severe mental illness | 60 Minutes appeared first on Minds Valley.

San Diego County officials have until October to stand up a new system to compel people with certain serious mental illnesses into treatment.  

There’s a lot to do before then, and among the many challenges the county is up against is an undeniable obstacle: Though the program is only expected to serve a relatively small group of people, it’s likely to hammer a system that already regularly fails to deliver the right care for those who need it. 

Background: Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers backed the creation of the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment Court – better known as CARE Court – which will allow family members, friends, health care providers and law enforcement to petition California courts to order care for people with untreated schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders.  

It’s up to each county to investigate the person’s condition, and based on that evaluation, the courts will decide whether the candidate is a fit and to order a treatment plan for care. 

The controversial state edict reflects a decades-long debate that has ratcheted up along with a recent rise in homeless Californians who appear to be languishing on the street. State officials decided courts, families, and officials needed more power to require people with serious mental illnesses to get care. It’s a population long ago served in mental institutions and later meant to access community-based treatment. Many activists oppose CARE Court. 

While some leaders have touted CARE Court as a panacea for homelessness, it’s not clear what percentage of people the initiative serves will even be homeless. The number of people the county expects it to serve isn’t massive given its narrow focus on certain psychotic disorders. Yet it’s still going to be a herculean task for the county to serve CARE Court patients given the overburdened healthcare system it’ll be relying on – and if it can’t deliver that civil court-ordered care, it could face fines of up to $1,000 a day.   

For now, the county’s behavioral health services director said the county roughly estimates it will receive about 1,000 petitions a year and that a judge will determine about 250 of those patients qualify for treatment. A Superior Court judge overseeing implementation of the new court system expects one of the court’s divisions to handle CARE Court petitions two days a week on top of its existing workload. 

As the county hurries to make sure it can serve these patients, there is a lack of clarity, even among insiders, on how CARE Court will work and whether the already-struggling system can handle the new state mandate — just weeks before the county’s October deadline. Longstanding challenges remain with providing people with mental health conditions access to multiple levels of care due to inequities unique to the behavioral health system, workforce shortages and more. More long-term care beds are needed to house CARE Court participants, but there is a county-wide shortage. Some stakeholders are also raising concerns about whether the plan violates civil liberties. 

“The core problem in my mind is there’s nowhere to go – no infrastructure – so it’s sort of the cart before the horse,” said Jerry Gold, behavioral health administrator at Scripps Health, who says he hasn’t received enough details on how the process will work. “You need to build the infrastructure before you build programs like this.” 

The Current State of the System 

Psychiatric social workers Carrie Dillon (left) and Jacqueline Rivera (right) work at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital on Sept. 20, 2022. They are tasked with finding step-down placements for patients who need additional care after they leave the hospital. / Photo by Ariana Drehsler

County data obtained by Voice of San Diego reveals the breadth of the county’s challenge. The number of days that adult behavioral health patients with Medi-Cal insurance spent waiting in hospital beds for post-hospital care has surged in recent years – and was spiking even before the pandemic.  

The numbers: From July 2022 through May 2023, patients collectively spent more than 16,000 days waiting in hospital beds regionwide after doctors decided they were ready to be discharged to a lower level of care. From July 2022 through May 2023, patients collectively spent more than 16,000 days waiting in hospital beds regionwide after doctors decided they were ready to be discharged to a lower level of care. 

Many of those lower levels of care are the very residential treatment services the county expects many CARE Court patients to need – and existing demand and waits for them have long wreaked havoc on the rest of the system. CARE Court will put even more pressure on the region’s limited options.   

County data shows behavioral health patients in hospitals waited an average of 43 days for a bed in longer-term care facility in the past year. 

For patients, these waits can be demoralizing and sometimes result in backslides from what had been improving health conditions. 

Luke Bergmann, the county’s behavioral health services director, acknowledges that a slew of challenges – from workforce needs to infrastructure challenges – complicate the county’s ability to quickly deliver new beds and thus stem those wait times. 

The County’s CARE Court Plan 

The county will receive $44.3 million in state grant funds to support housing investments for people with behavioral health conditions. The plan is to bolster board-and-care offerings, which typically assist residents with medication and meals.  

This category of housing — long considered crucial for people with serious mental illnesses — has been a shrinking resource in San Diego and statewide. Bergmann believes these homes will be a crucial landing place for CARE Court participants to stabilize, but the county has estimated it needs about 450 additional board-and-care slots to meet overarching demand. 

Bergmann said the county team is also looking to boost other resources that combine housing with services such as permanent supportive housing.  

He said the county expects to eventually build some new board-and-care capacity , but for now, county behavioral health staffers are tapping existing providers. The county expects to use most of the state dollars to boost Medi-Cal reimbursements for willing board-and-care providers. The county also plans to use a small portion of those funds for start-up needs such as furniture, equipment and renovations.  

“We can’t just materialize (board-and-care resources) by snapping our fingers,” Bergmann said. “We have got to find providers that are willing to do this work and make sure we are getting them resources.” 

Bergmann believes that increasing Medi-Cal payments for board-and-care facilities will level what has long been an uneven reimbursement playing field for behavioral health patients that incentivizes providers to take in other patients who bring with them larger reimbursements. 

As Bergmann’s team makes those calls, they are also staffing up to facilitate increased behavioral health assessments and other demands tied to CARE Court. 

As of Tuesday, Bergmann said the county had hired about 40 percent of the 55 behavioral health services workers it deemed necessary for CARE Court. Many of those new workers are clinicians who will spend two weeks investigating and preparing reports for the Superior Court after CARE Court petition are filed in court. They can ask for a 30-day extension if needed. 

Bergmann said the county plans to engage with the potential CARE Court patients while it conducts those investigations and is hopeful it can persuade at least some patients to access treatment absent a formal CARE Court order. 

Superior Court Judge Kimberlee Lagotta, who is leading San Diego’s CARE Court implementation, said the Superior Court’s Collaborative Courts division – which handles existing mental health and drug courts – expects to hear those CARE Court cases downtown on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. She said the court is also investing nearly $3.4 million in state funds into equipment and self-help centers to facilitate remote appearances and filings at courthouses throughout the county. 

Lagotta noted that judges will work to make CARE Court a more informal “non-adversarial atmosphere” for participants. The county Public Defender’s Office is preparing to represent CARE Court participants in those hearings and expects to hire 12 staffers to facilitate that work. The Superior Court, however, plans to rely on existing staff. 

Lagotta declined to comment on county projections on the number CARE Court petitions, but said she believes the Superior Court is equipped to handle what’s coming its way. 

“If we need to expand that process, we can. If we need to reduce that process, we can, based on the numbers,” Lagotta said. “But I can’t speculate at this point what those numbers will be.” 

Lagotta was more clear on how she expects the Superior Court judges to handle situations where the county can’t quickly deliver on what’s been prescribed in a CARE Court participants’ care plan, particularly when it involves housing. Judges could issue fines if the county can’t deliver. 

“If the resources aren’t there, then it would be very difficult to sanction the provider when they don’t have that option,” Lagotta said. “I think we have to think reasonably about this, and the court certainly intends to work with (county Behavioral Health Services) and understands the limitations on resources, financial limitations in the community and [plans to] move forward with positive efforts that can evolve over time.” 

Uncertainty About What’s Next 

A safety assessment form in a medical examination room at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital on Sept. 20, 2022. / Photo by Ariana Drehsler

The ultimate success of CARE Court will rest on the county’s ability to come up with treatment and housing.  

It will also require that San Diegans understand the process – and several advocates and providers who work with the county told Voice they have yet to be briefed on the specifics. 

Anita Fisher is a mental health consultant who joined Newsom at a March press conference about statewide behavioral health reform. She has shared the story of her own struggles to help her adult son with schizophrenia with the governor and advocated for CARE Court at the state level. Fisher has sat through state CARE Act working group meetings and other related discussions. She’s been waiting for updates on how the program will roll out in San Diego.  

“We haven’t heard a thing on the local level,” Fisher said last week. 

Cathryn Nacario, who leads the National Alliance on Mental Illness San Diego, a county contractor, said her group and its county-backed Peer Council are eager for details and to give input on how to help the program succeed. She said last week they hadn’t received updates. 

“We want to be part of these discussions to really make sure we have an equal voice of the client and the family and caregiver during this process,” Nacario said.  

Michelle Routhieaux, president of the San Diego chapter of Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance who helps with the county’s Psychiatric Emergency Response Team training, said she also hasn’t heard any updates.  

“We’re not being included on any of it,” said Routhieaux, who is concerned about the CARE Court process and considers its focus solely on psychotic disorders discriminatory since other disorders aren’t covered. 

She’s also concerned about the broader array of people who can petition the court for a patient’s care. She fears this may enable family members to abusively threaten to petition the court if they disapprove of the choices a family member with a serious mental illness is making. 

“It’s taken us back a lot of years in terms of rights and freedom and even just that semblance of peace or safety,” Routhieaux said. 

At least one local health system is also concerned  – and frustrated that its leaders don’t have more details on how CARE Court will work. 

Gold of Scripps Health said he believes the county and state should build up the behavioral health system before pursuing tacks like CARE Court. He has questions about the new process and how it could impact hospitals. 

“We just don’t have enough information to know how it’s actually gonna work,” Gold said. “I know the public defender will be involved, but our concern is there’s just not enough information out there and people will perhaps misuse the tool and bring (patients) into the emergency room thinking it will solve the problem.” 

Bergmann said the county is now working to address concerns – and on ramping up information sharing, including on its website. He said CARE Court’s status as a state mandate has minimized the county’s ability to take feedback and apply it. 

“This is an extremely prescriptive initiative. This is not a county program. We didn’t invent it,” Bergmann said. “We didn’t invent the nuance of the terms. There is not a great deal of latitude in how counties can operate this.” 

Bergmann said the Newsom administration also “inflated expectations” for CARE Court when it first announced in a way that fueled more questions and concerns. 

“The reality is that it’s a program that is meant to actually serve a quite small percentage of the overall numbers of people with behavioral health conditions, let alone the overall number of people who are experiencing homelessness or people who may need help with mental health,” Bergmann said. “So the work in sort of level setting has been different than I would say with other initiatives where the messaging from the source of origin has been maybe more consistent with the scale of the actual work.” 

Even with those small numbers, the county has a lot of work to do before October. 

Voice of San Diego is part of the Mental Health Parity Collaborative, a group of newsrooms that are covering stories on mental health care access and inequities in the U.S. The partners on this project include The Carter Center, The Center for Public Integrity, and newsrooms in select states across the country. 

Source link

The post How San Diego Is Rolling Out CARE Court appeared first on Minds Valley.

DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Three out of every four Texas children with depression don’t receive any mental health treatment, according to Mental Health America. Pair that with the severe shortage of mental health professionals in Texas schools and the picture is clear. Texas students are not getting the mental health help many desperately need.

Dylan Crow’s struggles with mental health started when he was 15 years old, a freshman in high school. Crow said he was feeling depressed, suicidal, and started having hallucinations. He was eventually diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder – a mental condition with symptoms of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. 

“I was scared because it wouldn’t go away,” Crow said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

Over the course of five years, Crow attended five different high schools with long stretches in-between at mental health facilities. Crow said every time he attended a new school, there wasn’t the help he needed until he went to Linda Tutt High School in Sanger, a public school that emphasizes mental health.

“Without this school I don’t think I would be alive,” Crow said. “Other schools tried to have the resources but there are just so many kids … I know this sounds hard to do but maybe they could hire more counselors.”

Dylan Crow

Crow family

According to American School Counselors’ Association, for every 10,000 students there needs to be 40 counselors. In Texas schools, according to Texas Education Association staffing data, there’s 25. 

The National Association of School Psychologists recommends for every 10,000 students, there needs to be 20 school psychologists. According to T.E.A. data, in Texas schools there are less than 4.

Outside of school, finding mental health help in Texas is often just as difficult. Eighty percent of Texas counties are designated as mental health professional shortage areas. 

“I’m not sure if we’ll ever get to where we don’t have any mental health care worker shortage in Texas,” said Dr. David Lakey, the head of the Texas Child Mental Health Consortium.

Lakey said one way the state is trying to make sure all students get the mental health help they need is by offering telehealth services through the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program.

Started in 2019 in response to the Santa Fe High School shooting, TCHATT is now in more than 600 school districts across the state and has been used by more than 20,000 students – many who otherwise might not have had any access to mental health services. 

“The standard waiting period to get into to see a child/adolescence psychiatrist in the state of Texas is about six months. We are able to get these services to kids right away,” Lakey said.

Despite the state offering TCHATT services for free to Texas schools, nearly 400 school districts have still not signed up for it. 

Lakey told the CBS Texas I-Team he is concerned about those districts but added the state is working to educate school officials on the benefits of the program and expects more to enroll as they see how the program is implemented in other districts.

Dr. David Lakey, the head of the Texas Child Mental Health Consortium

CBS News Texas

Even in districts that have enrolled in TCHATT, local school officials say the state program alone can’t solve all the issues caused by the mental health professional shortage. So, many districts are looking for additional solutions.

In Sanger ISD, a small rural district about 60 miles north of Dallas, school officials this year will launch two new programs – a teen court program at the high school and a peer-to-peer mediation program at the middle school.

Ann Hughes, the district’s director of emotional behavior and student intervention, said the new programs will help teach students to resolve minor problems themselves and thus free up the schools’ counselors and mental health professions to work with students with bigger needs.

“We need more of the situations to be resolved peer to peer in a structured manner, in a healthy manner, than always having to have adults come in to do the solving for them,” Hughes explained. “Having those programs will also open the door for counselors to spend a lot more time on the really involved students who need more professional guidance.”

Ann Hughes with Sanger ISD

CBS News Texas

Hughes, who has worked with Sanger ISD for 23 years, looks for new ways every year to improve students’ mental health. One year, she started a student-run free grocery store.  Another year, she turned traditional classrooms into a stress-reducing “movement” and “chill” rooms.

These efforts have helped students, like Dylan Crow, who is set to graduate from high school in the spring.

“We have to do what we can with what we have,” Hughes said. “That’s just the reality of any profession.  And then we need to try and find ways that are creative and innovative to meet the gaps.”

If you or someone you know needs any kind of mental health support, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or chat online with a counselor at www.988lifeline.org.

More from CBS News

Brian New

Brian New has been a member of the CBS 11 News team since 2013. In 2017, he was awarded the Lone Star Emmy for best investigative reporter. This is one of 10 Emmy awards Brian has been honored with during his career.

Source link

The post Texas schools trying to fill mental health professional shortage gaps with telehealth & teen court programs appeared first on Minds Valley.

New Delhi Users of social media must remain mindful of its impact and reach, the Supreme Court stressed on Friday, offering no relief to actor, playwright and former legislator S Ve Shekher, who wanted to be let off in cases registered against him for sharing a derogatory Facebook post against women journalists in April 2018.

The Supreme Court refuses to offer relief to playwright, former AIADMK MLA S Ve Shekhar in cases filed against him for sharing derogatory posts against women journalists in April 2018. (ANI)

Read here: Can’t restrain Bihar from releasing caste census data: Supreme Court

Shekhar claimed before a bench, led by justice Bhushan R Gavai, that he had put eye drops on the date of the incident, leading to his “mistake” of sharing the offensive posts against women journalists without reading it or realising its content.

“If he had allegedly put eye drops, he should have been more careful about what he was doing. It is not essential to use social media. Who forces you? But if one uses social media, then he should be more careful about its impact and reach,” the bench, which also comprised justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, told senior advocate S Nagamuthu, who appeared for Shekher.

Nagamuthu submitted that Shekher is 73 years old and has already tendered his apology before the Tamil Nadu high court. “Should at this age he goes to jail after he has expressed regret and apologised? He respects women and women journalists. It happened because of the eye drops. He never did anything like this before and it was one time thing that happened by mistake,” argued the senior counsel, requesting the court to take a sympathetic view.

But the court pointed out that Shekher has a huge fan following on Facebook and across all social media platforms, requiring him to be careful about the consequences of his action.

“You have such a huge fan following…Why do you take a chance of forwarding anything without reading it? If you find social media essential, then you face the consequences too. We cannot give special treatment to someone just because he can approach the Supreme Court,” the bench told Nagamuthu.

Rejecting Shekher’s appeal against the July order of the Madras high court, it said that the former AIADMK MLA, who later joined BJP, should enter the dock and put up arguments in his defence during the course of the proceedings before the trial court.

On a request made by Shekher to allow his appearance before four different trial courts through videoconferencing, the bench said that such a request needs to be made before the trial court concerned.

Shekher had in April 2018 shared an alleged derogatory post targeting women journalists, which was in response to a woman journalist’s complaint against the then Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit of patting her cheek during a press meet.

By its order on July 14, the Madras high court refused to quash the criminal cases filed against Shekher in the courts of Chennai, Karur and Tirunelveli districts by the journalist association in 2018, noting that the message forwarded by him contained indecent and vitriolic attack on a particular woman and other women press reporters.

“Hence, prima facie, the offence under Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 2002 is also cases made out. It is true that the petitioner removed the derogatory message from his Facebook account even on the same day and he also apologised for having forwarded the message. These acts, by themselves, do not help the petitioner from facing the consequences for forwarding a derogatory message. An offence has already been committed and the petitioner cannot now escape from the offence by merely coming up with an apology statement subsequently,” said the high court.

Read here: Investigate if murders of 4 rationalists linked: Supreme Court to CBI

Shekhar’s act virtually painted the entire press and more particularly women reporters with vulgar comments, and when such a large body is affected due to his act, Shekher cannot be let away just because he tendered an apology, the high court added.

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Utkarsh Anand is Legal Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on law, judiciary and governance. …view detail

Source link

The post Be mindful of reach before posting on social media: Supreme Court | Latest News India appeared first on Minds Valley.

York County’s legal and social services communities mourned the loss of Judge Penny Blackwell, an orphan-turned-innovator who — among many other achievements — helped establish the county’s mental health court.

Blackwell died at the age of 74 on Saturday, nearly a decade after she retired from the York County Court of Common Pleas. Friends and colleagues said she served with compassion and respect, stepping up as a mentor for many of her successors.

“She was always interested in doing something innovative,” retired Judge John S. Kennedy said. “I was impressed with her leadership.”

For the legal community, she will be remembered as instrumental in establishing the county’s mental health court as part of a larger wellness court effort. The courts — drug, adult mental health, DUI and veterans treatment — provide alternate routes through the legal system and offers an alternative to jail as they help people get at the roots of criminal behavior.

York County’s drug court was founded in 1997, led by Kennedy. The mental health court launched in May 2005 with Blackwell among those at the helm.

Blackwell took over as head of the drug treatment court four years later.

“Fortunately, I was given that assignment, and it is one that I very much wanted to do,” she said during an interview in 2009.

>> Please consider subscribing to support local journalism. 

“She recognized early that addiction and mental health struggles were often diseases and not choices.  She believed those people could be helped and not just warehoused in prisons,” attorney Chris Ferro said. “That was evolved thinking 10 to 15 years ago, and a lot of people who have since been given a second chance owe a debt of gratitude to Judge Blackwell.”

The York County Treatment Courts Facebook page posted a similar sentiment Monday.

“Without her strength and vision our Mental Health Court would not exist,” the post read.

Highlights from her 22-year career, from January 1992 to January 2014, included expanding the court-appointed special advocates office in York County; advocacy for mediation in custody cases in family court; leading naturalization ceremonies; serving on a statewide elder law task force; and creating a program to have therapy dogs in her court, according to various sources.

Compassion and fairness were two presiding qualities that came out as people who knew her shared memories of Judge Blackwell.

“She was thorough and fair and had an excellent demeanor in the courtroom,” President Judge Maria Musti Cook said.

She also said, “York County was truly blessed to have such a dedicated jurist; she was truly a public servant.”

MORE:Central York teacher to be published in Star Wars anthology book

MORE:Township denied Red Lion Country Club rezoning: What happens next?

MORE:Does your water taste funny? York Water Co. says it’s safe to drink

Musti Cook recalled how she spent a lot of time in family law during the early years of her career, and she often appeared before Blackwell for such cases. Blackwell was also in the early days of her career as judge at the time.

She said Blackwell was dedicated to finding permanency for children in the foster care system, and that she was especially well-suited at interviewing children.

Attorneys had similar experiences with Blackwell as she heard criminal matters.

“The best thing about her was how respectful was of the parties in her courtroom, how compassionate she was, how willing she was to listen to all sides, how everyone’s case mattered to her,” said Ron Jackson, chief deputy public defender. “She was a wonderful human being, and she was a fantastic judge.”

Ferro called Blackwell a “remarkable woman and a terrific judge” as he said he appeared before her hundreds of times in criminal cases in Blackwell’s latter years as judge.

“She was tough when necessary.  However, she will always be remembered by me for her kindness and humility.  It came natural for her,” Ferro said.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Todd said Blackwell will be remembered for her commitment to public service, particularly in protecting senior citizens in the state. Blackwell served on the state high court’s Elder Law Task Force, which Todd chaired.

“The lasting impact she has made in the lives of elders and their families will be the legacy she leaves and the driving force for continuing the work she helped to start,” Todd said.

Todd called her a “wonderful jurist, staunch advocate and friend.”

Blackwell also used her role to serve as a mentor to women attorneys in the community.

Musti Cook said Blackwell was honest with her about the challenges about running for judge as a woman in 2003. That May, Musti Cook lost her bid for a nomination for one of the common pleas judicial seats.

“She encouraged me to try again,” Musti Cook said of Blackwell.

Try again Musti Cook did, and she won election to one of the two open seats in 2005 with more than 40,000 votes, or about 45% of the total in that race.

“It was a great honor and pleasure to serve with her on the bench,” Musti Cook said.

Blackwell’s mentorship and her work in establishing the wellness courts earned her the York County Bar Association’s Women in Law Jane Alexander award in 2010. The award is granted to local women who advance the legal rights of women through example, education and activism.

“Penny was a neighbor (of mine for 25 years) and friend to many, a good and kind person, as well as a tribute to the legal profession. She is greatly missed,” said Victoria Connor, CEO of the bar association.

Before she took the bench in York, Blackwell had a life of tragedy and adventure, according to her obituary.

She was born in Panama in 1948 while her parents served in the Armed Forces.

Her parents died eight years later, leaving her and her three younger brothers. They lived in a Texas orphanage for three years, the obituary shows.

A judge then separated the children into different families, and Blackwell was sent to family in Oregon in 1959.

“In this major life moment, Penny decided to become a judge dedicating her life to steering the justice system to be more respectful and kinder to all who interacted with it,” the obituary states.

As she grew up, Blackwell played volleyball and earned a spot to train with the Olympic team in Hawaii. She also taught herself to race motorcycles and won trophies for that as well, the obituary shows.

Blackwell also put herself through school by working various odd jobs, including one that involved writing columns for Ranger Rick magazine. She graduated first from Portland State University, followed by earning her juris doctorate at American University. One of her first jobs was serving as an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency in Philadelphia, according to the obituary.

She married her husband, Dr. John Sanstead, in April 1978, and then moved to York. The two later had a daughter.

Blackwell, who formed her own law firm in 1982, took her first shot at judge in 1987 and lost, evidently to Sheryl Ann Dorney, the first judge elected to the local bench that year.

“She learned a lot from this experience and got to know the York County community by eating many variations on chicken corn soup,” her obituary states.

Blackwell tried again a few years later and was elected in 1991, becoming the second woman elected judge in the county.

MORE:Winds up to 85 mph caused York County damage, with 11,000 customers still without power

MORE:‘We prayed about it’: Hoke House to find new life, as place for vets recovering from PTSD

MORE:Special interest groups are targeting our schools. It’s time for rational parents to step up.

About 20 years later, Judge Kennedy remembered backing Blackwell in a bid to become the court’s president judge around 2010. The results were close, he recalled, but Blackwell ultimately didn’t succeed.

“I just felt that she would’ve done a good job,” he said.

Blackwell was also tapped to swear in Tom Wolf as governor in 2015, the year after she retired.

Blackwell died in hospice care from complications of Parkinson’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia, her obituary shows.

She left behind her husband John, their daughter and her husband, and their two grandchildren, as well as Blackwell’s support dog.

“Cooper will appreciate pets as he howls with grief,” the obituary states.

>> Please consider subscribing to support local journalism. 

Blackwell is scheduled to be buried Thursday in a private ceremony at Prospect Hill Cemetery.

A celebration of life event will then be held for her Aug. 19 at Unitarian Universalist Church of York, 925, S. George St., the obituary shows.

— Reach Aimee Ambrose at aambrose@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @aimee_TYD.

Source link

The post County mourns Judge Penny Blackwell, an orphan-turned-innovator who created mental health court appeared first on Minds Valley.

CFPB headquarters in Washington, D.C. Source/Shutterstock

Only two credit unions were among hundreds of people and organizations that filed briefs in support of the CFPB as it defends itself in the U.S. Supreme Court against a lawsuit filed by payday lenders.

The court will be hearing arguments this fall on an appeals court ruling that would invalidate rules issued by the CFPB since its founding in 2010. The appeals court ruled that the CFPB’s funding structure was unconstitutional because its funds do not come from annual congressional appropriations, but instead from systems set up by Congress to make them independent agencies, like the Federal Reserve, FDIC and NCUA.

The CFPB and its supporters have argued that the appeals court’s reasoning has no precedent, and that funding structures for independent agencies have been approved by Congress since the time of the nation’s birth.

One joint brief includes Self Help Federal Credit Union and its state-charted sister, Self Help Credit Union, both community development credit unions based in Durham, N.C. It also includes its policy affiliate, The Center for Responsible Lending, also based in Durham.

“The CFPB’s funding structure is constitutional and critical to ensuring that it can carry out its consumer protection mission free from undue industry influence,” the Self-Help brief said.

It said the CFPB’s work has been “responsive to the unique needs of smaller financial institutions, including credit unions and CDFIs like the Amici, allowing these institutions to compete more effectively for consumers’ business against larger institutions.”

“The CFPB’s budgetary mechanism creates stability and predictability and enables the Bureau to discharge its functions in an independent and impartial manner. This benefits CDFIs, credit unions, and their customers who typically have less access to the political decision makers than large financial institutions,” the CFPB brief said.

Self Help and its allies filed their brief on May 15, the deadline for friend-of-the-court briefs in support of CFPB.

CUNA and NAFCU said they plan to file a joint brief July 10, the deadline for briefs in favor of the Community Financial Services Association of America, which represents payday lenders and filed the original lawsuit in 2017 challenging a payday lending rule from the CFPB.

CUNA has long supported placing the CFPB under the traditional appropriations process. NAFCU has long held that credit unions should be exempt from CFPB jurisdiction and instead be regulated solely by the NCUA.

It’s not clear how far CUNA and NAFCU will go in support of the payday lenders. NAFCU officials warned in March that a ruling vacating CFPB rules might create chaos by undermining rules that credit unions use to close mortgages and other loans.

The vast majority of briefs filed in favor of the CFPB supported the CFPB in its entirety.

The exception was the joint brief from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders of the United States.

Their brief supported neither party nor the merits of CFPB rules. Instead, they said they filed the brief “to highlight the potentially catastrophic consequences that a decision drawing those rules into doubt could have on the mortgage and real-estate markets. Thus, this Court should take care not to call into question current CFPB regulations, including those governing the real-estate financing industry, which could lead to immediate and intense disruption to the housing market, harming both consumers and the broader economy.”

If the Supreme Court’s decision were to challenge the validity mortgage-related rules by the CFPB, the MBA brief said “it could set off a wave of challenges and the housing market could descend into chaos, to the detriment of all mortgage borrowers. Lenders, servicers and consumers have operated by the CFPB’s guideposts for more than 10 years, and without those rules substantial uncertainty would arise as to how to undertake mortgage transactions in accordance with federal law.”

The CFPB was established by Congress in 2010 through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to strengthen regulations found lacking in the financial crisis that preceded the Great Recession of 2008.

The filers in support of the CFPB included law professors, regulatory experts, consumer groups and 144 current former members of Congress. Here are some excerpts:

• 134 current and 10 former members of Congress: “The choices Congress made in funding the CFPB — a standing appropriation, capped lump sum and funding sources other than general revenue — are commonplace, not controversial. And have been common since the early days of the Republic. If anything, much of the current practice regarding appropriations committees developing annual appropriations acts is a relatively new innovation. Annual appropriations are also far from the most common way to appropriate funds, representing less than one-third of federal outlays.”
• Financial regulations scholars: “If upheld, the court of appeals’ decision would disrupt the market for consumer credit and expose the economy to recession. A defunding of the CPFB would produce a regulatory vacuum that undermines federal consumer-protection laws. These effects would reach entities regulated and protected by the other federal bank regulators, which are funded in the same way as the CFPB.”
• Professors of history and constitutional law: “While praising Congress’s appropriations power, Respondents come to bury it. Like the Fifth Circuit, they would transform the Appropriations Clause from a legislative check on executive power into a judicial check on legislative power, replacing Congress’s plenary discretion over spending with nebulous, judge-fashioned restraints. Those limits are absent from the Clause’s text, unsupported by its history, and incompatible with legislation dating to the Founding.”

Source link

The post Self-Help Defends CFPB in Supreme Court Case appeared first on Minds Valley.

MACI Bookout has continued to support her ex Ryan Edwards’ after his recent prison sentence.

The Teen Mom OG, 31, was present at Ryan’s court hearing on Wednesday, June 7.

5

Maci Bookout was present at her ex Ryans Edwards’ court hearing on Wednesday, June 7 after his prison sentenceCredit: MTV

5

Maci said it was important for her to support Ryan and their 14-year-old son Bentley by showing upCredit: The US Sun

On attending the hearing, Maci told The Ashley’s Reality Roundup: “As Bentley’s mom it was important for me to show up for not only Ryan, but Bentley as well.”

Ryan, 35, has one child with Maci, Bentley, 14.

Along with Maci, Ryan’s parents Jen and Larry Edwards were also present in the courtroom.

While one of Ryan’s ex was present, it was reported that his other ex, Mackenzie Edwards, did not attend.

MTV was also not in attendance.

Wednesday’s hearing was put in place to examine the four charges Ryan has against him.

Ryan formerly appeared in Hamilton County Court regarding the two new possession of a controlled substance and DUI charges, as well as the previous two harassment and possession of controlled substance charges.

He was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in prison.

Most read in Entertainment

According to a Hamilton County court clerk, nothing was decided at Wednesday’s hearing and all decisions will be pushed back until his next one on July 12 at 8.30am.

As the case is still pending, Ryan will remain at the Silverdale Detention Center in Chattanooga.

TRYING TO STAY POSITIVE

Recently, Maci took to social media to reveal her inner feelings amid her ex Ryan going to prison.

The Teen Mom alum made an Instagram post about how her work ethic will help her true dreams manifest.

The mom of three admitted in a note she shared on social media that working to make her realities happen was the current mood she was in.

“Working for the lifestyle I promised myself,” Maci wrote.

Maci published the post on her crime audio show, The Expired Podcast’s, Instagram page.

This is the second time that the mom of three has shared an emotion-filled quote on social media since Ryan was sentenced.

Last month, Maci uploaded a motivational quote about self-help and mental health on her Instagram Stories.

The Teen Mom OG alum re-shared a post from Moms Behaving Badly account.

The text stated: “I told a friend that I’m emotionally ‘hitting a wall.’ 

“And she said: ‘Sometimes walls are there so we can lean on them and rest.'”

The caption ended: “I can’t begin to express how much I really needed to hear that.”

Maci, who is married to Taylor McKinney, 32, shares her teenage son Bentley with her former baby daddy.

Taylor and Maci are also the parents of their two kids: Jayde and Maverick.

Maci and Ryan were initially a couple on 16 and Pregnant in 2009.

A MOTHER’S SUPPORT

Ryan’s mom, who was present for his Wednesday hearing, recently wrote a heartbreaking comment amid his sentencing.

Eagle-eyed fans of the MTV show spotted the comment on Maci’s recent Instagram post.

Maci shared a birthday post about her daughter, Jayde, and Jen commented some nice words.

In Maci’s post, she wrote: “Jayde, Snacks, Sis. Not to be defined, but to be the example of a female who is empowered, fearless, progressive, and innovative; to go against the grain.”

“She is tough, selfless, beaufiul, AND today she is 8 years old! Happy Birthday Miss Jayde Carter!!”

Jen commented: “Happy birthday beautiful girl ! Mimi and Papa always love your hugs ! You are very special!”

Her comment left fans heartbroken when a screenshot was shared to a Teen Mom internet forum.

“That’s a sweet comment and I remember she used to babysit Jayde, so I can imagine they have a special bond together, like an extra grandma,” one Reddit fan said.

Another said, “I think this is so sweet! Everyone is included. It’s how families should be!”

A third questioned, “Why does this break my heart for Jen?”

5

Maci Bookout has been supporting her ex Ryan Edwards despite struggling with co-parenting for yearsCredit: Reddit

5

Ryan was recently sentenced to almost one year in prison on four different chargesCredit: Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office

5

No decisions were made at the Wednesday, June 7 hearing and further examination will take place at the next hearing on July 12Credit: The US Sun

Source link

The post Teen Mom Maci Bookout makes surprise appearance at troubled ex Ryan Edwards’ court hearing after he’s sentenced to jail appeared first on Minds Valley.

In four months, the gavel will fall, and the state’s first CARE Courts will be in session.

Seven counties opted for an Oct. 1 rollout of the law that orders each county to create special courts, whose judges have the authority to order voluntary treatment plans for individuals with untreated schizophrenia and related disorders.

The CARE Act, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September, requires counties to come up with the bureaucratic mechanisms that will support the goal of easing an epidemic of severe mental illness on the streets and in communities.

“We’re deep in the weeds, thinking about what will be the daily lives of the people who engage in this work,” said Luke Bergmann, the behavioral health director for San Diego County.

Among the many challenges of the CARE Act is developing a manageable workflow for disparate groups.

For every individual appearing in the court, there will be the clerks who processed the petitions that initiated the proceedings, the outreach teams that found the individual and served the paperwork, the psychiatrists who prepared a treatment plan, defense attorneys who will represent the individual, behavioral health clinicians who will present the plan and the judges who will negotiate its implementation.

In addition, there will be insurance companies that pay for the plan, administrators who manage the paperwork associated with the plan and healthcare providers who execute the plan.

The first group — San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Glenn — reflects the geographic and demographic diversity of California. Their courts will serve as a template for Los Angeles and the 50 other counties. (L.A. County will open its court on Dec. 1; the rest of the state has until Oct. 1, 2024.)

Many counties will be playing catch-up with a crisis that has gone unchecked for decades. County supervisors and behavioral health directors describe a neglected system with an unknown number of people who may be eligible for a CARE Court.

The state has estimated that 7,000 to 12,000 people will qualify for a treatment plan. The range is so broad, officials say, in part because the law allows roommates or family members to initiate an assessment of a family member suspected of having a severe mental illness.

Some counties are concerned that they will be overwhelmed by families who have been unable to seek assistance caring for individuals with mental illness by laws that protect their rights and privacy.

They are braced as well for the frustration from families whose requests are denied for not meeting the criteria specified by the law. Those brought into a CARE Court must be 18 or older, diagnosed with “schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders” and not currently being treated.

“We’re just not sure who this law will bring to the door,” said Veronica Kelley, Orange County’s behavioral health director.

Orange County estimates it will receive petitions for about 1,500 people the first year, with about 1,000 of them meeting the court’s criteria. Of those, officials estimate, nearly 300 are expected to agree to a treatment plan without having to be brought into CARE Court, leaving 700 for the court to monitor for at least a year.

Family members demonstrating at the state Capitol in support of the CARE Court proposal.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)

One of the smaller counties, Stanislaus, has identified 150 people who will qualify based on frequent emergency room visits. “Beyond that,” said county Supervisor Terry Withrow, “it’s anyone’s guess.”

Such estimates are critical for counties needing to hire staff at a time when the state is experiencing a shortage of behavioral health workers. Meeting that need will be harder on rural counties, which have fewer providers capable of working with people suffering from acute mental illness.

“In a small county, it’s not like staffing will grow to meet capacity, especially when it comes to administration and management,” said Joe Hallett, behavioral health director for Glenn County, 60 miles north of Sacramento. “Instead, we just add these new responsibilities to the existing workload.”

Health directors like Hallett are looking to lawmakers in Sacramento for continued advocacy and support. Glenn County will receive nearly $1.4 million in early allocations.

Startup funding for the CARE Act was $57 million. The state budgeted $26 million to be divided among the first group of counties as they work out whatever kinks arise in implementation. Another distribution of $31 million will be shared among all counties in advance of full implementation in 2024.

While Orange County received one of the highest allocations — $7.1 million — Kelley is concerned about lawmakers’ resolve keeping the CARE Act fully funded.

“That’s good for one year,” she said, “but for the ensuing year, we don’t know.”

Funding behavioral health services was one reason Riverside County signed up early, said Jeff Van Wagenen, the county’s chief executive officer, who argues that it has not received support from the state commensurate with its population growth. The first allocation of $6.6 million will help, but what comes after the first year is unknown.

“One of the concerns of CARE Court is that it could be the latest unfunded mandate from the state,” he said.

Reflected in Sacramento’s budget for CARE Court is the presumption that the initial counties will work out kinks in the legislation so that other counties can start up their courts at less expense. This means answering a number of mundane yet critical questions left unaddressed by the law itself.

For instance, who should serve the petition and transport individuals to the court?

While behavioral health departments may seem the logical choice, Bergmann is concerned that it creates a conflict of interest when the agency bringing the person to court represents the interests of the party who petitioned the court. Enlisting law enforcement for this task is equally problematic for encounters on the street that will likely require more trust than authority, he said.

Building that trust is one reason why Orange County is making provisions for its staff to help family members fill out the petitions that the court needs to initiate the intervention.

“We imagine a loved one at wit’s end — agitated, frustrated and tired — for all they have been through getting to this moment,” Kelley said. “So, the court staff has to be ready for that. We’re also trying to get the $433 filing fee waived. That’s a lot of money.”

To help families understand the process, Riverside County is developing an app that will chart individual progress through the CARE system. The county also might conduct remote civil hearings, so that someone living in Blythe, for instance, would not have to go to court in Riverside, 170 miles away.

“All we need is a table, chair and laptop,” Van Wagenen said. “So we could buy a van and convert it into a mobile courtroom. This would avoid the problem of having to store property or board pets for those who are experiencing homelessness.”

Homeless people create a unique dilemma for counties required to hold a case management hearing within two weeks of determining the validity of the applicant’s petition.

“We will need more than 14 days to find the person and to try to get them to agree to treatment,” Kelley said. “What if a person has moved to a different county? We can’t extend all our resources, trying to find them. We’re not investigators.”

“We’re deep in the weeds, thinking about what will be the daily lives of the people who engage in this work,” said Luke Bergmann, the behavioral health director for San Diego County.

(Kristian Carreon / For the San Diego Union-Tribune)

Hallett, with Glenn County, has similar concerns. The two-week window is “really, really fast to find someone, do outreach and process a report,” he said. “A month would be more reasonable.”

Yet lawmakers wrote the law with the intention of pressuring counties to act quickly, leaving counties to meet that timeline or pay a price.

“The CARE plan is like a settlement agreement between the county and the respondent,” said Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez, chief policy officer for the California State Assn. of Counties. “Once a plan is in place, the petitioner falls away, and an agreement to comply has to be struck between the county behavioral health department and participants in the court.”

The stakes for not meeting the 14-day deadline are high. If the court finds the county to be noncompliant, a $1,000-a-day sanction per case can be levied.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, calls the counties’ efforts so far “very promising.”

Not only does the legislation hope to change “the arc of lives of some of the most vulnerable among us,” but it also represents “a culture shift in how we collectively as a system do business, which will take time and repetition.“

“Frankly,” he said, “it is our responsibility to do better.“

As much as behavioral health directors welcome the CARE Act, they emphasize that additional work is required to address broader and deeper problems in the state’s behavioral health system.

“We’re moving too quickly,” Kelley said. “Give us five years, which is how long the county needs in order to build anything. Without the infrastructure, these programs won’t be as successful as the Legislature wants, and we might lose people whom we could be serving in the process.”

Newsom hopes to address this deficiency by creating new revenue streams for housing and services, but his proposals are contingent on voters and will take years to put in place.

“We’re standing at the front door,” Bergmann said. “We’re painting it, we’re putting in windows, we’re outlining it with mother of pearl, and yet when we walk in, we find a building without a roof.”

Source link

The post California counties scramble ahead of CARE Court launch appeared first on Minds Valley.