Kane County Mental Illness/Developmental Disability Study

May 2008
Local Kane County Leagues of Women Voters have adopted the MIDD position as stated below. The Leagues now move on to action and will focus on housing for persons with disabilities based on its 2-year study's findings.
Deb Russo from the LWV Geneva-St. Charles will be the new facilitator.

Consensus Update December 2007

November's MHDD study consensus meeting was a success. We had over 50 members and non/members attend. Thanks to LWV Geneva/St. Charles panel participants Donna Amburgey, Gina Richter, Kim Haag and Deb Russo. And a special thanks to Batavia member Buzz Hayes who was wonderful at articulating the plight of persons with mental illness. LWV Elgin Area supplied the place, the recorder, the facilitator for the consensus questions, and had more members attend than the other Kane County Leagues.
The next step is to approve the position which will be done at each Kane County LWV's individual annual meeting in Spring/Summer 2008.
Other great news. Kimberley Haag will be co-facilitating the Kane County Mental Health Council. Additionally she is secretary of the council's data collection committee and organized a teacher training day for the Regional Educational office which highlights education on mental health issues relating to school age children to be held in February.
Darlene Bakk, Facilitator

Study Material: Profile of Care/Consensus Questions/Background

The following documents were used for our Nov. 7th 2007 consensus meeting held in Elgin.
Kane County MI/DD Profile
Consensus Questions
Criminal Justice: Full Report Prepared by Donna Amburgey
Para-transportation: Full Report Prepared by Gina Richter
Treatment of Persons with MI: History, Consequences and Funding Issues Prepared by Kimberley Haag

MH/DD Position statement

The Kane County Leagues of Women Voters of Batavia, Carpentersville/Dundee, Elgin Area and Geneva-St. Charles, propose to conduct a study of the systems of treatment and rehabilitation services for adults with serious mental illness and/or developmental disabilities in Kane County, Illinois.
The study would investigate the status of community services, including the mental health court; planning; program standards; personnel training; funding and the oversight for the expenditures of that funding for the systems of treatment and rehabilitation services for adults with serious mental illness and/or developmental disabilities in Kane County, Illinois.
Non-members and organizations are welcome to join us on this study. Presently Advocate Network, NAMI Kane County, Shelters for Healthy Environment, and Suicide Prevention participate. For more informatin, contact MHDDStudy@lwvgenstc.org

Guest View

Project targets Kane mentally ill
By Darlene Bakk
June 10, 2006 Printed with permission from the Kane County Chronicle.
A recent report entitled Grading the States 2006: A Report on America's Health Care System for Serious Mental Illness was recently published by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Illinois' grade was disappointingly an F. The hope is that the examination of the system will provide elected policymakers with a specific agenda for action and promote a dialogue among all stakeholders about what is and what is not working in the mental health system. The expectation is that when they redo the study in three years the grades for failing states will show improvement.
In many places, people living with serious mental illnesses are not provided with the essential treatment they need. Sometimes this allows them to falter to the point of crisis. Outcomes result in a rise in the number of people with mental illness incarcerated in jails and prisons. Emergency room use is increasing. Safe, affordable and supportive housing options are scarce.
Transforming our mental health system means that the communities must take responsibility for mental illness and an effective system of care; care that is equal to other illnesses. There must be a vision with an investment in care, a political will, funds, consistency in planning, better accessibility to services and distribution of direct dollars to evidence-based methods.
Locally, stakeholders are currently working on a "vision," for Kane County. The Kane County Health Department has a committee, which is outlining current problems with the county's mental health system. It is looking at barriers that are client related such as the complex multiple needs of clients. It is also examining system infrastructure issues such as lack of transportation, decreased affordable housing and billing complexities.
The objectives are l) to develop a countywide mental health council to achieve greater efficiencies and productivity by leveraging resources and creating/sustaining state and federal collaborations; and 2) Increase a coordinated community awareness campaign to promote access and awareness of mental health services and educate ancillary agency staff on mental health screening and referral.
The League of Women Voters of Kane County is conducting a concurrent study this year with other disability organization partners. In addition to examining many of the above issues, this study is most concerned with the lack of a point of entry which is not centralized and based on levels of diagnosis or severity and an uneven geographic coverage of psychiatric inpatient programs. It is also concerned with what appears to be inadequate linkage between hospital and community mental health, substance abuse services, medication needs and linkage for Medicaid, Medicare enrollment for the uninsured. The study also is examining how much supportive housing is needed; how long the waiting lists are for services; if there is appropriate linkage from the jails to services; and can funding efforts be coordinated?
The recent national report concludes that "For a large state, Illinois is nowhere near meeting its potential. There are pockets of excellence and tremendous resources. But somehow it simply hasn't pulled itself together. To move forward, political leadership and long-term commitment will be required." Does Kane County have the vision and political will to improve our services for persons with mental illness? What grade will advocates give it in three years?
Darlene Bakk, League of Women Voters of Illinois, Mental Health Issue Specialist

May 2006
This letter to editor was published in several Kane County papers
The Kane County Mental Health Court, to be known as the Kane County Treatment Alternative Court (TAC), was announced at a press conference on Feb. 13. (2006)
The court will serve as an alternative program to incarceration for people with serious mental illness and/or developmental disabilities who have been accused or pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and less serious felonies.
Those accepted into TAC will receive treatment through a mental health facility as well as ongoing supervision through the court system.
Kane County is the fourth county in northern Illinois to develop such a program, following Cook, DuPage and Winnebago counties.
We understand the colossal effort among various agencies to get the TAC started, and it will take a strong continuing effort to make it successful.
TAC can be successful if it promoted best practices in the following area:

Police officers need to be trained to work with persons with mental illness. Studies have found the majority of those with mental disorders are not violent, but more likely to be victims of violence. Violence sometimes may result from officers' lack of education on mental illness. It is crucial to give the officers the training they need.

An effective transition plan must be in place so those with serious mental illness do not end up back in the system. This includes demonstrating the necessity of taking medicine, attending required counseling and doctor appointments, and finding safe and affordable housing.

We know that due to fragmentation of community health care and lack of access to needed services, many people with mental illness become involved in the criminal justice system. Because the quality and availability of mental health programs vary greatly, services available to a particular individual depend on timing, personal resources and program eligibility criteria. While the person with mental illness is under court supervision, it is hoped that the difficulty in accessing services will be mitigated. But without a coordinated and organized system of care, the needs of these people may not be met once released, and they may again become part of the criminal justice system
According to the Bureau of Justice, essential community services should include: psychotropic medication, integrated substance abuse treatment, housing and residential care, entitlement programs, assertive community treatment teams and case management, medical care, supportive therapy, rehabilitation and job programs, education and employment counseling, family support, consumer self-help, crisis services and hospitalization.
It is hoped that TAC will lead to stronger, more cohesive services for those who are mentally ill so that they will not return to the criminal justice system,
The Leagues of Women Voters in Kane County will be spearheading a study of the systems of treatment and rehabilitation services for adults with serious mental illnesses and/or developmental disabilities in Kane County. If you would like more information, please contact MHDDstudy@lwvgenstc.org.
Kimberley Haag, Elburn Chairman/Mental Health Study Leagues of Women Voters, Kane County
Katie Petray, president NAMI Kane County
Gina Richter Advocates Network
Suzanne Larson-Kolomyjec Shelters for Healthy Environments
Buzz Hays Suicide Prevention

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