Agenda - 04-04-2023; 8-a - Minutes

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33 1 the need for a mobile crisis unit to respond in lieu of law enforcement. She said many 911 calls 2 could be addressed. She said they are different programs, but critical in Orange County. 3 Commissioner Fowler asked for the number of justice involved people with mental health 4 issues. 5 Caitlin Fenhagen said the self-reported number in the jail is 50%. She said it is probably 6 closer to 75%. 7 Commissioner Fowler asked if all officers have received CIT training. 8 Caitlin Fenhagen said the training is offered by Alliance. She said they do this several 9 times a year. 10 Chair Bedford said school resource officers are a priority. 11 Commissioner Fowler said she likes the ideas of social workers. She said she was in 12 support of the item. 13 Vice-Chair McKee clarified that it would be one person from each agency and not four. 14 He said it was a great leap forward. He said he hopes they will learn a lot during the grant phase. 15 Caitlin Fenhagen said law enforcement is supportive because they understand the danger 16 to their patrol officers going on calls that may not be as trained on how to respond to a mental 17 health problem. She said that they certainly don't have warm handoff opportunities during certain 18 times of the day. She said hopefully it would get officers more time to do the work that they need 19 to be doing and focusing on more serious crimes. 20 Vice-Chair McKee said he sees the benefit of having people trained to recognize a mental 21 health crisis event and be able to take a step back. 22 Commissioner Hamilton said as a social worker it's really nice to have positions so social 23 workers have a group to support each other, because it is extremely hard work. She said it is 24 only one social worker for each entity so it is also important to have officers trained. 25 Caitlin Fenhagen said this is not a substitute of a 24/7 mobile crisis team. She said that 26 the hours might be slightly different because the majority of calls from 7 to 11 pm. 27 Commissioner Hamilton said she looked forward to the data for the program. 28 Caitlin Fenhagen said the data recording for the program is very specific. 29 Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked if 75% of people in the criminal justice system also 30 have a mental health illness. 31 Caitlin Fenhagen said it is closer to 50% with 47% of the jail inmates self-reporting. She 32 said it might be closer to 75% in the detention facility having a diagnosed or undiagnosed mental 33 health illness. 34 Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked how many have substance abuse issues. 35 Caitlin Fenhagen said around 70% of the people in the jail have a self-reported substance 36 abuse issue. 37 Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked about marijuana treatment restriction in the grant 38 program and how that might restrict services. 39 Caitlin Fenhagen said the grant will allow anyone that has a cooccurring disorder with a 40 mental illness will be treated. She said if marijuana is the sole substance, there is very little 41 success. 42 Chair Bedford said it would be great if a social worker or the clinical person at Freedom 43 House could be bilingual. 44 Caitlin Fenhagen said the clinician hired in the Lantern Project is Latinx and bilingual. She 45 said that because of restrictions at Freedom House, there are not a lot of people in the Latino 46 population being served. She said they also hired a bilingual person in the office who will be a 47 part time grant management employee. 48 49 A motion was made by Commissioner Fowler, seconded by Commissioner Hamilton, to: