Orange County NC Website
MENTAL HEALTH TASK FORCE REPORT <br />In the course of its deliberations, the Task Force established two work groups which met five times. The <br />first group developed the proposal, "Supervision of Social Work Students and SA Professionals: Creating <br />Capacity", included as Attachment B to this report. The second group created graphic illustrations of the <br />mental health system that, at this writing, are being refined and will be posted on the Town of Chapel Hill <br />Mayor's Mental Health Task Force website. This work group wrote observations/notes about thE~ mental <br />health services for particular age groups; these are included in Attachment C. <br />The Task Force collected a variety of resources and materials related to mental health reform, local <br />mental services and climate and other pertinent topics. These were posted on an Internet blog site that was <br />active during the period of Task Force deliberations. Many of these materials will continue to bey available on <br />the Town of Chapel Hill Mayor's Mental Health Task Force webpage. <br />One of the objectives of the Task Force was to gather the perspectives of citizens and providers. Thus, <br />we asked Town of Chapel Hill department heads to inform us of their work with and/or exposure to mental <br />health issues; the staff of the Orange County Community Resource Court talked with us; and wee conducted <br />two public "listening sessions", where we heard from both family and community members directly affected <br />by mental illness and the providers who seek to serve them. We also received several comments on our blog <br />site. <br />II. State mental health system reform: background and context for Task Force work: <br />Reform. of the North Carolina mental health system of services was mandated by the Legislature in 2001, <br />after a series of federal reviews and actions, fiscal crises, and media exposes suggested that they mental <br />health system was coming apart at the seams (see Attachment D). The intent of the "system transformation° <br />envisioned by the legislature was to move services and programs into communities by 1) transferring <br />individuals from state-operated institutions to community residential settings; 2) spinning off direct service <br />provision from Local Management Entities (LME - in Orange County, OPC -the Orange-Chatham-Person Area <br />Program) to private, service contractors; and 3) redefining the mandate of LME's to be primarily policy, <br />oversight and management of the provider network, as well as certain screening, triage and other access- <br />focused functions. The reform legislation also required input into service planning through consumer and <br />family advisory councils (CFAC). <br />5 <br />