Agenda 02-01-22; 7-a - Orange County Crisis-Diversion Facility – Updated Progress Report by the Orange County Behavioral Health Task Force and Special Recognition of Tony Marimpietri

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1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 1, 2022 Action Agenda Item No. 7-a SUBJECT: Orange County Crisis/Diversion Facility — Updated Progress Report by the Orange County Behavioral Health Task Force and Special Recognition of Tony Marimpietri DEPARTMENT: Criminal Justice Resource Department ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: PowerPoint Slides Caitlin Fenhagen, 919-245-2303 Tony Marimpietri, 919-619-7223 Travis Myren, 919-245-2308 PURPOSE: To receive updated information from the Crisis/Diversion Facility Subcommittee of the Orange County Behavioral Health Task Force, and express special recognition to Tony Marimpietri, the Chair of the Subcommittee, who has worked countless volunteer hours to expertly guide the planning process for the proposed behavioral health facility. BACKGROUND: In April 2019, over thirty community stakeholders from the criminal justice system, healthcare, behavioral health system, and housing came together to participate in the Orange County Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM) Workshop facilitated by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The SIM process is designed to inform and address community-based responses to the involvement of individuals with behavioral health issues and intercepts with the criminal justice system. An intercept map and Final Report were created (SIM Final Report), and one of the identified community gaps that emerged from this process was the critical need for a Crisis/Diversion facility that would support diverting individuals in behavioral health crisis from the criminal justice system and the Emergency Departments at UNC Hospitals. The Behavioral Health Task Force (BHTF), co-chaired by Deputy County Manager Travis Myren and Caitlin Fenhagen, Criminal Justice Resource Department Director, and with subject matter expertise from Barbara-Ann Bybel, Director of Inpatient Psychiatry Services at UNC Hospitals, formed in 2019 to address the behavioral health intercept gaps identified in Orange County. The mission of the BHTF is to improve outcomes for individuals with behavioral health disorders through partnerships across justice, law enforcement, mental health, homelessness and substance use service systems. Later in 2019, the Crisis/Diversion Facility Subcommittee was formed and tasked with developing recommendations and a plan for a dedicated Facility.