Another View: New approach to mental health

Long Beach

The accent brought connected by the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of truthful many. Any 1 of america could find ourselves successful request of support, particularly erstwhile intelligence wellness suffers.

In 2020, Long Beach constabulary answered much than 1,000 intelligence health-related 911 calls than the twelvemonth prior. Long Beach’s termination and cause overdose rates are good supra the region average, and the city’s complaint of exigency country visits owed to intelligence wellness issues is doubly the authorities average. Two 1000 of our neighbors are unhoused, galore of whom conflict with intelligence wellness issues.

Mental wellness should beryllium treated arsenic a nationalist wellness situation — a situation that deserves a proportionate response.

In August, a study to the City Council from the Everyone Home Coalition — stakeholders convened by the metropolis to extremity homelessness successful Long Beach — cited that “mental health, substance use, and re-entry services mostly autumn nether Los Angeles County jurisdiction.” Localizing Long Beach’s intelligence wellness services would assistance present resources much straight to our residents and code our city’s unsocial issues.

Although Long Beach has its ain Health Department, the city’s intelligence wellness services are delivered done the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. We cognize there’s not capable attraction for our residents, and what fewer services we bash get tin beryllium improved by much section coordination with section providers. By localizing our services, we tin streamline efforts and guarantee residents who request enactment person them.

This isn’t immoderate lofty, intolerable task — Long Beach already has its ain prosecutor, dispatch center, health, police, and occurrence departments. We person existing section infrastructure that volition service arsenic an fantabulous instauration to enactment our efforts to tackle this crisis.

There are encouraging section intelligence wellness work models to supply examples of alternate solutions. Claremont, La Verne and Pomona developed a Tri-Cities Mental Health Services collaborative that receives backing from the authorities for outpatient services. The Tri-Cities exemplary provides penetration into a coagulated collaborative operation for intelligence wellness and stateless effect done their Psychiatric Care Assessment Teams (PACT). PACT teams are trained intelligence wellness professionals who respond to non-violent calls to instrumentality enforcement. Similar to alternate effect models presently being discussed successful Long Beach.

This strategy works — it has made these cities much resilient during the pandemic. Claremont’s stateless colonisation dropped by 37% during 2020.

Long Beach tin larn from this. On Oct. 28, I hosted a briefing and argumentation treatment astatine the caller Ronald R. Arias Health Equity Center. We brought unneurotic Tri-Cities Mental Health, our ain Health Department, and different section stakeholders. Participants highlighted Long Beach’s request for much residential beds, much opportunities to bid societal enactment and nursing students done expanded internships, improved nonstop response, streamlined navigation to assistance residents get the attraction they request faster, and much coordination betwixt existing programs truthful that patients don’t autumn done the cracks. Locally tailored intelligence wellness services collaboration could unlock each these things and more.

When idiosyncratic is experiencing a intelligence wellness crisis, we request to connection the enactment they request to get well. Too galore of our neighbors effort to fend for themselves, and the outcomes are drastic — homelessness, addiction, and carnal oregon affectional harm to themselves oregon their loved ones. Long Beach needs to dainty intelligence wellness arsenic earnestly arsenic carnal health.

By localizing our approach, we tin amended service our residents, guarantee much radical person entree to care, amended intelligence wellness successful our schools, code chronic homelessness, and tackle cause addiction proactively. Creating a genuinely equitable intelligence wellness attraction strategy volition necessitate superior investment, innovation, and time, but determination is nary amended clip than present to start.

Rex Richardson is Vice Mayor and Ninth District Councilman successful Long Beach.