Stevenson, Garrett
Subject:FW: PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - PUBLIC HEALTH AND FIRE DEPARTMENT BUDGETS From: Areta Crowell < >
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 10:53 AM
To: Stevenson, Garrett <[email protected]>; Gordo, Victor <[email protected]>; Madison, Steve <[email protected]>; Hampton, Tyron <[email protected]>; Kennedy, John J. <[email protected]>
Cc: Kurtz, Cynthia <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - PUBLIC HEALTH AND FIRE DEPARTMENT BUDGETS Dear Mr. Mayor and City Councilors
Thank you all for the time and effort you invest in leadership to keep Pasadena a outstanding city! I am a proud homeowner in District 1, a member of Pasadena Presbyterian Church, and retired Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. I have been volunteering at the church as we provide meals for persons experiencing homelessness in our community. I participated in the Homeless Count. I see firsthand the needs of our homeless neighbors but I also know that mental health/substance abuse issues affect all our residents. Crisis calls come at all times, in all neighborhoods.
1.IMPROVED CRISIS RESPONSE
I urge your attention to ways you can improve the experience of those in crisis as you consider this budget. Specifically, you can work with the County to shift from reliance on police intervention in crises , now done by HOPE teams, to what is state-of-the-art using mental health approaches for the initial responses without using police. It has been shown that this reduces violence and increases public safety.
I was Director of LAC-DMH when the original law enforcement - mental health teams were developed; that was a great improvement from police-only crisis response, but experience has now shown that we can do better with the CAHOOTS approach. LAC DMH is now moving in that direction with pilot programs in each Supervisorial District. Pasadena could work with the County to become another pilot.
Pasadena has a foundation for this CAHOOTS type program in the terrific PORT teams-1 applaud the increase in their coverage.
2. SINGLE AUTHORITY FOR CRISIS AND OUTREACH SERVICES
The city needs a single point of accountability for serving both the mental health/substance use issues of homeless persons, the larger community crisis response and the coordination with LAC DMH and its contract agencies.. We do not have any coordination WITHIN THECITY of PORT, HOPE, case managers provided by the Housing Department), and outreach provided by city departments and local non-profits.. Outreach is vital but crisis response must be combined with continuity of care to yield good results-PORT does some of that case management but not enough.
I believe it is possible to leverage the current city investments, combined with DMH investments, by shifting from a HOPE approach, which relies on police/mental health teams, to a CAHOOTS approach which is a public mental health approach to violence reduction and crisis response- combined with follow up /continuity of care. This would build on the PORT program.
I applaud Mayor Gordo for bringing the County into discussions about improving the mental health services to Pasadenans. Many of the needed services do not involve homeless persons, but the planning with Huntington Hospital should be combined with the street-focused crisis service planning; all stakeholders should be part of the conversation. Building a CAHOOTs type response system can use city funds now in HOPE as well as PORT to combine with County Mental Health to draw down federal funds at 90% match!! Public Health, Fire, Housing and Police Departments must be part of the planning with DMH as well as persons with lived experience of homelessness. 1 CAHOOTS uses a community non-profit agency and para-professionals combined with mental health experts who have street outreach experience, an expertise which hospitals generally do not have.
3.PASADENA SHOULD INVEST MORE IN HEALTH
The loss ofTAY and GEM programs and other public health services is a detriment to all the city. These are preventive services worthy of General Fund support. PPHD is to be applauded for its efforts and creativity to find other funding for important public service but the city can be more creative in examining its priorities.
Yours sincerely,
Areta Crowell, PhD
Retired Director,LAC DMH
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