By: @Kyle Packham
As the nation observes National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month this July, the California Special Districts Association (CSDA) has released a new video highlighting how some special districts are innovating new approaches in mental health, from prevention to response.
“Seniors, adults, teens and children across California are experiencing mental health challenges like no time in our history,” said Neil McCormick, CSDA’s CEO. “Some agencies have seen an increase of 200-300 percent in mental health calls in just the past five years.”
In response two agencies - highlighted in the video - are working to change the game in how to help prevent people from experiencing a mental health crisis, and by responding to someone in crisis as a health issue, rather than a criminal (police) issue. Both are leading to very positive results.
In Hayward, the Hayward Area Parks and Recreation District (H.A.R.D.) has a “Recreation Prescription” program designed to get people outdoors, socializing, and active.
“This is the same concept as a doctor’s prescription for medication, except you go to a clinician at a health clinic and if they think you seem depressed or need more physical activity, they write a recreation prescription with all the information you need to get involved in healthy activities, many of which are free,” says Jim Wheeler, H.A.R.D.’s General Manager.
Nearby in San Ramon, the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District’s “Firefighter First Program” is transforming the way behavioral health crises are managed after a 9-1-1- call. What used to be a police response is now a Firefighter First response.
As a result, an astonishing 80 percent of those calls no longer result in an involuntary hold to psychiatric emergency services.
“What makes this program so unique and effective is our firefighters can get on scene first and provide medical care to the patients in a way which hasn't been done before,” says Jonas Aguire, Deputy Chief of Operations, Training and Emergency Medical Services. “We're viewing these as medical emergencies, not as police incidents.”
The new CSDA video, “Special Districts Impacting Mental Health” is available here.
“There’s no one cause, nor one solution, to the mental health challenges we face, but innovative approaches like these are making a real difference, and illustrating once more how California’s special districts are leading the way in addressing the state’s biggest challenges at the local level,” McCormick said.
#FireProtection
#ParksandOpenSpace
#Healthcare