For a Healthy Sonoma County

Issues - Mental Health Services

Currently Sonoma County has inadequate mental health services.  People who need in-patient psychiatric care are being sent out of the County and with little care when they return.

Wrap around mental health services are what are needed with more funding placed on early screening and prevention.  Certain components have long been identified as “best practices” in mental health services.  They include the following components in any recovery process:

1. Clinical Care

2. Family Support

3. Peer Support and Relationships

4. Work/Meaningful Activity

5. Power and Control

6. Stigma

7. Community Involvement

8. Access to Resources

9. Education

For each stage within the recovery process, the status of the consumer and the roles of clinicians and community support are defined.

I propose the following changes and additions to our current mental health system:

• Create a “mental health crisis intervention” team to address 911 calls and assist law enforcement.  The Team would provide the ‘frontline intervention with law enforcement to backup.

• Create a Psychiatric Health Facility (phf) for acute inpatient services

• Work with Mental Health Coalition to create a screening exam for all family physicians.

• Create a county public relations program that reduces the stigma of mental illness.

• Create new paradigms for mental health between County, clinics, hospitals, and nonprofits.

• Create a “Consumer Task Force” whose job would be to provide quarterly reports and assessments to the Board on the status of mental health services in the County, using the nine components of recovery listed above.

• Provide additional training for all law enforcement on understanding types of mental illness and the associated behaviors.