Board Of Supervisors Authorizes Funding For Mental Health Diversion Program

Speaker 1: 00:00 Here's another sign that San Diego is working to turn the ship around and the way we approach mental health on Tuesday County supervisors authorized over $3 million for a program that would expand community-based treatment for those otherwise headed into the criminal justice system. It hopes to reduce the number of people who end up in jail. When what they really need is help joining us as chief deputy da, Rachel Solove, who presented this program to the board of supervisors this week. Thanks for joining us, Rachel. You're welcome. My pleasure. So tell us, how is this program different from the counties existing behavioral health court? So this is very similar to the counties Speaker 2: 00:35 Behavioral health court. It's built upon the same premise, but what's different about it is that it falls under the newly enacted mental health diversion laws. So instead of being a condition of probation post plea, this is going to be pre pleased. So it does not require someone to plead guilty to enter into the program. Additionally, this is up to two years, whereas the regular behavior behavioral health court program is approximately three years. Speaker 1: 01:01 And why is this an important step? Why did you work so hard to get this through? Speaker 2: 01:05 So this is a really important step in an exciting program because what it does is it really provides more access to people that maybe don't have the resources when the diversion law went into effect back in July of 2018, since that's been in effect. What we have seen in practice is that oftentimes, um, individuals who come into the criminal justice system who have financial resources, who can afford their own attorneys, they have good insurance, they can afford to pay for doctors to create robust treatment plans, um, that become appealing to the court and to all the other partners in the justice system, because they provide a level of structure and security. And what we found is that sometimes those individuals that don't have those resources were not able to provide such good treatment plans and therefore their access to diversion, um, was decreased. So it's really exciting that what this helps us do is provide an Avenue for individuals who maybe are under insured or uninsured to get into these programs Speaker 1: 02:09 And who would be eligible for it. And who would not, perhaps, I mean, we're talking different kinds of crimes here, Speaker 2: 02:15 Right? So, um, the diversion law is, is very broad. There are some exclusions, some, um, very serious offenses like murder and rape, the very violent and, and worst of the worst crimes are excluded statutorily from this. Um, pretty much everything else is allowed for consideration. The judge still has discretion as to whether or not to let someone in there are three diagnoses, which are also statutorily excluded. So if someone has antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, or pedophilia, um, they are not eligible for this program. Speaker 1: 02:51 No, the program includes what they're seeing, what they're calling assertive community treatment. What exactly is that? Right? So that is a very high level of robust Speaker 2: 03:00 Care and treatment that is provided it's provided in the County now. So we just sort of tapped into that program for this, uh, diversion track of behavioral health court. And what that includes is among other things that includes the therapy, the counseling treatment, the medication, also the wraparound services and case management, some life skills, trainings and medication management assistance with getting in line for benefits, getting all that stuff lined up and also community linkages, because our goal is always to set people up so that when that period of supervision is over, they're able to provide for themselves. Uh, and, and a big part of that is, is linking them to the community where they're going to seek out treatment, where they're going to get their medications from, uh, when they're no longer being told by the court to do so. Speaker 1: 03:50 And for someone who does complete the program, how would it change the charges that they initially faced? So for someone that completes the program, Speaker 2: 03:57 The charges are dismissed and it is sealed. And so, um, it it's essentially like it never happened. Uh, there are some circumstances where it, it is, um, discoverable, so to speak. Um, but for the most part, it's completely sealed. Like it never happened and it's not a conviction because they didn't plead guilty. So it will not show up as a conviction on their record. Speaker 1: 04:20 So there's a housing available now for up to 30 people. What do you estimate that the actual need is Speaker 2: 04:27 The need is probably greater than, than 30 people, but what we found, uh, one of the things that has made behavioral health court so successful is that it provides for that housing component, which allows for, uh, the stability and the ability to get treatment and the ability to focus on that treatment. And so it was really important and critical in this program that it provides for housing as well. Now this is not the only way that someone can get diversion in the County. So someone that perhaps does not need that high level of care can still get diversion outside of this program. Um, but this program really is able to, um, give that opportunity for diversion, for the people that maybe have a much more serious mental illness, uh, issues, mental health issues, and also perhaps more serious crimes. Speaker 1: 05:20 Do you anticipate any pushback from the communities where the centers are being set up and that's always possible? Speaker 2: 05:26 Uh, you know, but what the, the nice thing about this program is that it is plugged into the already existing behavioral health court. So it will really just parallel that and utilize a lot of the same resources. So hopefully that won't happen, but that is a possibility, and it's something that we have faced in trying to site the community based crisis stabilization centers that we're trying to stand up, uh, and some other programs as well. Speaker 1: 05:53 So this, this program we're talking about as part of a much larger mental health Speaker 2: 05:58 Reform effort at the County, talked to us a little bit about that. Yes, definitely. Back in 2018 district attorney summer seven brought together about 200 stakeholders in two different symposiums, um, people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and we mapped the intersection of, um, mental health and criminal justice. So we looked at where individuals with mental health issues, uh, come into the criminal justice system. And we looked at what the current resources were for the County. And then more importantly, we looked at what the gaps were and then we prioritize those. And from that came the blueprint for mental health reform, which documented the work that these stakeholders did. And it contains several important recommendations on how we transform this. Our ultimate goal is to keep people from coming into contact with the criminal justice system to begin with, but then if they do, we're looking for ways that we can more humanely, um, treat them, recognizing their, their mental health issues and how we can try to set them up to live successful lives. We've been speaking with chief deputy da, Rachel Solof. Thank you so much, Rachel. Thank you.