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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-09-07 BHAC MINUTES1 Behavioral Health Advisory Committee (Mental Health-Substance Use Disorders) MINUTES September 7, 2021 3:00-5:00 PM FINAL I. Call to Order/ Introductions X Heidi Eisenhour-Chair Excused Ariel Speser-Vice Chair Excused Chris Ashcraft X Patricia Beathard X Jill Buhler-Rienstra X Anne Dean X David Fortino X Patrick Johnson Excused Sheila Westerman Guests: Brian Richardson, Denise Banker, Jessica Garcia, Jud Hayes, Joe Nole, Jim Novelli, Tonya Ferguson, Lori Fleming, Gabby Caudill, Sam Schroder, Leah Russell, Pam Kozora, Minnie Whalen, Whitney Friddle, Yuko Umeda, Martiann Lewis Staff: Anna Mc Enery, Veronica Shaw, Apple Martine II. Motion to approve Agenda for September 7, 2021: Member Johnson (M)/ Member Buhler-Rienstra (S) Approved unanimously. III. Review/Adoption of draft Minutes of July 6, 2021: Member Buhler-Rienstra (M)/ Member Beathard (S) Approved unanimously. IV. BUDGET -Veronica Shaw a. 2021 Budget Tracking Spreadsheet & Sales Tax Projection Actuals for revenue are coming in at 18% above budget. We are $57,510 more over what was budgeted for revenue. Expenses are at 51% of total expense budget. Some reserve numbers will need to be adjusted because this reflects assumptions of what was going to happen. Staff Mc Enery suggested that, since revenue is coming in better than was anticipated, the committee consider relooking at the RFPs that were put forward for the last two years and go back and see if it would be possible to add some additional funds to the vendors and their contracts. Staff McEnery suggested the RFP Panel take another look at those RFPs. Commissioner Eisenhour commented that a number of the tax dependent funds that the County manages have come in with higher revenue, so they are increasing grant availability across all the sales tax dependent program areas right now. 2 Staff McEnery asked Staff Shaw what amount of tax revenue might be available to allocate for the calendar year of 2022. Staff Shaw responded that revenues right now are exceeding budget and expenses. These numbers are just projections, but it does look like 2021 revenues will potentially continue to be higher than projected. To have the full picture of all the tax revenue available for 2022, Shaw confirmed the need to wait until the end of 2021. Staff McEnery asked if it would be reasonable to anticipate an additional $80,000. Staff Shaw agreed that would be reasonable. Member Buhler-Rienstra suggested the committee agree on an idea of what to do with the money and then figure out how to allocate the funds when the amount at the end of the year. Member Beathard suggested that when looking to give additional funding to our current vendors, it would be very important to see how the recipients are actually managing their current funds, and who really needs further funding. Additionally, if the funds have not been used as anticipated, a request should be made for a simple explanation as to why, so the funding is allocated to where it is needed the most. Member Dean agreed with the recommendation to look at allocating these additional funds very carefully. Member Dean shared that she had just participated in a block grant proposal where over $455,000, was allocated for treatment services. However, no funding will be coming to Jefferson County because there were no applications from Jefferson County agencies. In addition, no applications from mental health agencies came in either. Member Dean shared her disappointment that no Jefferson County organizations asked for any of the block grant funding for our community. Staff McEnery asked Member Dean if she could share what projects were funded through the block grant. Member Dean responded that much of the funding went to the uninsured/underinsured programs. Some funding went to vocational services, transportation, rental subsidies for sober living programs, a vocational navigator, training for staff, client driven support services, some unique development and training opportunities for staff, additional UA services and communication supports. Staff McEnery noted that Lori Fleming put a comment in the chat. She said Jolene Kron from the Salish BH-ASO regularly alerts folks at the Behavioral Health Consortium of funding opportunities. Staff Mc Enery requested that future block grant information be sent to the Behavioral Health Advisory Committee, so we can network and send it on. Member Johnson asked if the agencies in attendance knew why there was a lack of interest in the block grant. Jim Novelli with Discovery Behavioral Healthcare explained that of the majority of funds were allocated for Rescue D Programs. The mental health agencies in the three County Region chose not to apply because they have other projects coming down the pike, (that would have been a duplication) or they didn’t have the capacity or the staffing. 3 V. Presentations-UPDATES a. Status of School-based Mental Health Services w/1/10th of 1% Funding Commissioner Eisenhour reminded the Committee they had awarded funding to both Jumping Mouse and MCS Counseling. However, Julie Canterbury from MCS Counseling pulled her RFP, because she was not sure they would have the staffing to provide school based mental health services for the Jefferson County schools. There has been discussion about putting out another RFP to a broader set of providers that could provide counseling in the schools. Some of the schools had additional funding outside of the 1/10 of 1% tax funding to use for school based mental health. However, there is still a hole to fill, and staff has a plan to reach out to several providers. Whitney Friddle asked which schools MCS is going to be working with. Denise Banker clarified that the Empower Teens Coalition Chimacum has a contract with MCS to provide one day of counseling in the school through January. Commissioner Eisenhour commented that because of COVID - kids in school need mental health services more than ever. She encouraged anyone with “lightbulb moments” or bright ideas to reach out and share. It will take all of us working together to make this happen. b. Update- on the N.E.A.R. (Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience) Science Workshop and Training for Jefferson County-1/10th of 1% Vendors- Minnie Whalen, Director for the Clallam Resilience Project reported on the N.E.A.R. Science workshop and training. The purpose of the workshop was to create common knowledge, a shared language and to learn about the N.E.A.R Sciences. This applies to individuals, the community, as well as public health in multiple spheres; individual, family and team organizations. Minnie shared a PowerPoint outlining some of the tools used in the workshop. She noted results of the differences as well as similarities that organizations work within, noting that this is as it “should be” as organizations work through and manage their own processes. Minnie shared results of the community discussion, where agencies were able to discuss how they respond to traumatic incidents and treat others. Organizations also shared the impact of COVID, office closures and public access. The discussion was an opportunities to share and understand each other better. An invitation was extended to anyone with interest in attending a Community Meeting on the First Tuesday of the month from 10-11:30. The next meeting on October 5 will have a Keynote Speaker. They will present about the Behavioral Health Strike Team for the Washington Department of Health. Minnie invited everyone to participate in Resilience Month during October 2021. There will be a variety of virtual events provided around N.E.A.R. Sciences and full descriptions and registration for these events can be found at: clallamresilienceproject.org 4 c. House Bill 1310 & Update on the Sheriff’s Dept. Navigator Program Sheriff Nole explained the HB1310 has come about due to circumstances such as George Floyd’s death and others in the past year. HB1310 is the “use of force” bill. Now, law enforcement can only use force, when there is probable cause to arrest someone, to prevent an escape or to protect from an imminent threat of bodily injury to the officer, another person. Sheriff Nole explained that this could be difficult when mental health issues are in play. Additionally, HB1310 creates a duty of reasonable care for all officers. This means they are required to exhaust all available and appropriate de-escalation tactics to avoid using physical force, including just physically leaving the situation. Senate Bill 5051 is another new bill that requires law enforcement to be recertified in criminal justice training system. Sheriff Nole expressed that “In the past, the feeling was- if I just do the right thing, I will be good. But now, you may want to do the right thing, but you may not be able to, because there is a law against it.” These bills became law on July 25, yet the Attorney General is not required to have the rules defined until July 1st, 2022. Sheriff Nole pointed out that between now and then, each agency must figure out what to do and how to do it, without the actual rules that will eventually be in place. Sheriff Nole reported that the Navigator program is going well. Jim Novelli shared that House Bill 1310 has created real angst among mental health professionals. He is certain that the creators of the bill had not intended for it to impede mental health services, but it is being interpreted by different agencies in different ways. The legislature is going to have to fix it and make it work. Jim has been in communication with the Sheriff’s Department; they will be attend monthly meetings to get a handle on how to resolve the issues. A mental health summit is being put together to work with responders on how to deal with House Bill 1310. Martiann Lewis with Salish BH-ASO, spoke about her work with implementation of House Bill 1310, and how it affects various agencies. She reiterated the fact that this is a challenging time, but in her observation, there has been a great response from law enforcement within Kitsap County. Martiann reported the BH-ASO held a meeting on August 19 for over 32 law enforcement, tribal police, fire, EMS, and OMC to talk about the issues. (They will continue to have regular meetings.) She pointed out the benefits of coordinated collaboration. It is very clear that behavioral health is a priority in the three County region. Martiann also shared their crisis teams are tracking coordination between law enforcement, fire, and tribal police, to look for barriers, gaps and/or continuing issues. That information will eventually be sent to Legislators. 5 VI. VENDOR REPORTS Gateway to Freedom/ Jail SUD Assessment Program Gabby Caudill reported on the Substance Abuse Prevention grant that is being offered at the Jail. Through the 1/10th grant, she is providing substance use assessments, as well as coordinating services when people move out of jail and into inpatient treatment. Out of the 67 people who have been assessed; 38 were provided transportation to inpatient facilities. Family gave the other individuals rides or they took the bus to get to treatment. In addition, Gabby provides clothing, toiletries, tents, sleeping bags and transportation when individuals get out of treatment. She also provides follow-up assistance with continued care. Gabby reported that the program is going very well overall. PT Police/ Navigator Program Jud Hayes reported that there currently four primary objectives. Number one has been crisis response. Second is discussing available services to individuals. Third is education about behavioral health issues to friends, family members and community members who want to know what they are doing and what they could be doing. The last objective is collecting the data around the objectives. Jud reported that the numbers in the first six months of 2020 compared to the first six months of 2021 is twice as large. Interestingly the follow up after an encounter is only about one in ten and the mean age of the individual is 47 years old. There have been more female contacts in the first six months of 2021, and the majority of individuals had stable housing in 2021. Jud reported that the significant mental health issue differences between 2020 and 2021 have more to do with early onset dementia or other delusional behaviors. Only 10 individuals were reported as having substance abuse as a primary issue; however, Jud believes this number is actually higher than was reported. Jud reported that the increase in numbers could be because less stigma exists around people asking for help, or family members calling with concern about their son, or daughter, or spouse. Sheriff Nole asked if Jud had any opinion, or saw any conclusions on the trends or pattern changes since last year. Jud responded that it’s the number of stressors that exist for the individual. For a large majority of individuals, there are financial, basic life skills and school related stressors. The stressors just build and build and build, until the individual starts to practice maladaptive coping strategies; all of a sudden, they're in crisis. (For some it’s substance abuse related.) VII. Additional Comments Jim Novelli shared the exciting news, that DBH has agreed to purchase Safe Harbor and will be offering Substance Abuse services along with MAT services. In addition, DBH is working with the BHO to develop a recovery navigator program for Jefferson County. The recovery navigator will work closely with the sheriff's navigator. 6 The three County region was awarded $1.4 million for recovery navigator programs. There will be two in Clallam County, two in Kitsap and one in Jefferson. It is a team approach, so there is a coordinator, a couple of case managers and peer specialists. Staff McEnery asked what a recovery navigator would do. Jim explained that the State legislature put out funding for substance abuse and/or co- occurring disorder services. The program will put recovery navigators out in the streets to find people that need help; then get them hooked up and enrolled in services. The program is currently in development. Therefore, getting started may take a bit of time, but it will be a real advantage in the end. Sheriff Nole added that the recovery navigators could not be law enforcement navigators. Jim Novelli also shared there is ongoing work to grow the jail transition contract. DBH is providing additional services to support people when they leave jail, to keeping them out of jail and hooked up with services. Whitney Friddle reported that Chimacum Primary School is opening their Jumping Mouse therapy room soon. It will be modeled after the program at the Brinnon School District. It’s an exciting step. Gabby Caudill shared that OPHS will be renting space from them one day a week, so there will be additional services. They are also expanding services to the weekends as well. VIII. Adjournment of Meeting Commissioner Eisenhour adjourned the meeting. Future Agenda Items: a. Presentation from the New Family Resource Navigator Program- YMCA of Jefferson County-/Tanya M. Barnett b. Update- Drug Court/ Richard Davies- Public Defenders Office & James Kennedy- Prosecutor’s Office Update- Mental Health Field Response Team Meetings c. Update- One-Tenth Data Report/Amanda Tjemsland/Kitsap County Epidemiologist d. Update- Washington State Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) Jail- Based Program and Aftercare Services for Jefferson County - /David Fortino & Gabbie Caudill e. Vendor Presentations: November 2, 2021  DBH/ Transitional Housing  DBH/ Wrap Around Case Management  Drug Court/Family Therapeutic Court  Jumping Mouse/ Brinnon School District-Mental Health Program- (Imbedded Model)