6 minute read
OPINION
Our society is rightly focused on the stark inequities borne from prejudice and discrimination and the grave injustices visited on entire groups that deny equal rights and equal access to services, protections and freedoms. One of the most marginalized of those groups is the seriously mentally ill. I have served on Ventura County’s Behavre-entry programs and the supportive housing required for this specific population. Unlike other large Cal- ifornia counties, howev- er, Ventura County lead- ership has never directed that a plan be generated nor have they assessed what will be needed to adequately serve the roughly 16,000 adults who will have a serious mental illness in our county. There is no coordinated vision for the delivery of services and supports, no articulated goals and no time-bound benchmarks. There can be no accountability or plans for improvement if we don’t have clear goals and ways to measure success. We do know that the current by Mary Haffner Power to Speak More and better support needed for the mentally ill or to lock them up in jails, one of the worst environments for people with serious mental illness. This approach passes the buck of responsibility to law enforcement, hospitals, jails and communities. The economic costs of non-treatment for these severe illnesses are staggering: home- lessness, incarceration, suicide, probation and parole, law enforcement, court use, SSI and SSDI benefits, and the attendant lawsuits related to incarceration and public safety. We all pay these costs. If we do not focus on effective treatment, many of those afflict- ed will require costly services from society for the rest of their lives because they will continue to be re-hospitalized, re-arrested and re-incarcerated, all while continuing to ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer STAFF WRITER Kimberly Rivers CONTRIBUTORS Michael Cervin, David Michael Courtland, Ivor Davis, Emily Dodi, Alicia Doyle, Chuck Graham, Chris Jay, Daphne Khalida Kilea, Karen Lindell, Paul Moomjean, Mike Nelson, Tim Pompey, Emily Savage, Kathy Jean Schultz, Alan Sculley, Kit Stolz, Mark Storer, Alex Wilson, Leslie A. Westbrook, Kateri Wozny GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Bret Hooper, Paul Braun, Elaine Cota SALES TEAM LEADER Warren Barrett ADVERTISING SALES Barbara Kroon CLASSIFIEDS Ann Turrietta ioral Health Board for over five years and I have seen firsthand the results of this systemic discrimination. People with severe mental system is not working for many, and the numbers of seriously mentally ill who are cycling through the system untreated continue to go up. deteriorate further. Ventura County’s mental healthcare system creates high-resource uti- lizers who will be dependent on the system Advertising information, call 805.648.2244 Classified Ads | Display Ads illness are not afforded treatment on par with I have listened to many local families trying for many years. EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING OFFICE others who suffer with disease. We make them to get help for their seriously mentally ill loved There are also human costs incurred by the 805.648.2244 wait days in hospital emergency rooms, transfer them out of the county, jail them and allow them to remain untreated, cycling through the system with no effective support. ones. Even the most tireless and committed family members have great difficulty access- ing best practice services and if they finally do, systemic problems around inappropriate seriously mentally ill and their families. Fam- ily members have been told by county staff to “back off,” “stop being so involved,” “you’re a helicopter mom.” These admonitions signi- warren@vcreporter.com (Advertising) nancy@vcreporter.com (Editorial) aturrietta@timespublications.com (Classifieds)
Approximately 3.3 percent of the adult staffing and neglect in the Ventura County fy a lack of understanding and a breakdown The Ventura County Reporter is distributed every Thursday in Ventura, Oxnard, Port population will have a chronic and disabling serious mental illness. The illness is treatable system render the care they receive woefully deficient. in leadership. It is the responsibility of local government and healthcare professionals to Hueneme, Camarillo, Ojai, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills. The Reporter is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. The Reporter may be distributed only by Reporter authorized distributors. No person may, without prior and we know the science-based best practicThe unwritten county plan for the seriously help citizens who are unable to care for written permission of the Reporter, take more than one copy of each Reporter issue. es that work. We also know that the longer mentally ill is to invest in a law enforcement themselves and to work collaboratively with The Reporter is copyright ©2020 by Times Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. No part individuals with serious brain disorders go untreated, the more uncertain their prospects for long-term recovery become. and jail-centered system, one which will con- tinue to incur great economic and human health costs and fail to promote wellness and family. It is inhumane to both allow people to decompensate to the point of being unable to care for themselves and then to require family of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part in any form or by any means without permission in writing by the publisher. An adjudicated Newspaper of General Circulation (SP50329). Submissions of all kinds are welcomed. However, the publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. A stamped, self-addressed envelope AD PROOF
All California counties work under the same function. With one of the worst inpatient members to stand by and watch. must accompany all submissions expected to be returned. state and federal law restrictions. With visionbed-to-population ratios in the state and a Client: Montecito Bank and Trust Positive change will not happen unless Ad Executive: Barbara Kroon (805) 648-2244 ary leadership, smart strategic planning and political will, many of these counties are working to provide an “in the community” continsystem that houses more mentally ill in jail than in all its inpatient acute and sub-acute residential facilities combined, this county’s county leaders are willing to look at this system and listen to those most impacted by its deficiencies. Please check this proof over carefully and indicate all corrections clearly. You will have a “1st Proof”, “2nd Proof”, and “Final Proof”. If we receive no proof after the 1st or 2nd Proofs, RUN AS IS. If this proof meets your approval on the 1st proof, check off “FINAL PROOF (APPROVED)” box, date and sign at the bottom AD WILL uum of care including acute and sub-acute priority is not to help people get better. NOTICE: PLEASE FAX THIS PROOF TO (805) 648-2245 ASAP PRESIDENT Steve Strickbine ISSUE: 9/3/20 treatment and support, pre-arrest and pre-trial Instead, its priorities are to send individuals Mary Haffner is a Ventura resident and has served on VenVICE PRESIDENT Michael Hiatt diversion intercept model programs, effective out of the county away from family support tura County’s Behavioral Health Board since April 2015.
- Christine Gerochi VP / Ventura Branch Manager
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