 NAMI Ramsey County NAMIWalks team, 2021 NAMI Ramsey County President’s Annual Meeting Report for June 2021-May 2022 Accomplishments (Fiscal Year 2021) 1. Programs:
2. Action:
3. Organization:
 Photo by Christa Rittberg This month’s book club featured a wonderful Zoom discussion about a book called Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman. The book is about a teenage boy who begins to exhibit odd behaviors. The story walks the reader through the initial onset of his symptoms, with an emphasis on his thoughts and reactions and the responses of his friends and family. The author jumps between the boy’s real life experience and a story about a pirate and his crew. As the book continues, the reader picks up on the connection between these two narratives and realizes the author’s purpose for writing in this way. In our group discussion, we all agreed that the book was initially difficult to read because of the jump between the two stories and not knowing how they fit together. However, as we got deeper into the book, it became clear that the author wanted us to also experience the distress and confusion of the main character’s behaviors and thinking. It helped us understand a small piece of what individuals with this type of mental illness (I won’t share more details and risk spoiling part of the book) experience, especially when symptoms are first starting. Many of us discussed our own experiences with mental illness and how we relate to the feelings sparked by the author and the book. Overall, this was a very uniquely written book that illuminated aspects of mental illness in new ways. It sparked a great discussion about severe mental illness and allowed the reader to grab onto different aspects of the main character’s experience. Please join us for our next Ramsey County Book Club! Find more information at: https://www.namiramseycounty.org/bookclub.html
Dear Commissioner Carter: As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed long-standing, significant weaknesses in the emergency and affordable housing available in Ramsey County. On behalf of NAMI Ramsey County (National Alliance on Mental Illness), we implore you to prioritize housing for people living with serious mental illnesses who have long been overrepresented--and frequently overlooked--in populations of those experiencing homelessness. All too often people living with mental illnesses are discharged from in-patient hospital care, sober living, and community care facilities to the street with no housing plan. Added to that, their behaviors, stemming from a mental illness and/or substance abuse, too frequently bar them from available shelters. As our board discussed in a recent letter to you, we urge Ramsey County to opt into the new engagement law allowing mental health workers to work with families on early intervention during the time a person living with a serious mental illness is decompensating. This is crucial to help people from losing their housing, being unnecessarily hospitalized, or worse yet, dispatched through the criminal justice system when medical treatment for a disease of the nervous system is required. Our board would gratefully discuss these and other issues related to mental illness and homelessness with you. We applaud your recent formation of county governance and steering committees to assist you in determining Ramsey County’s affordable housing response, and likewise would appreciate the opportunity to provide input from families and people with lived experiences of mental illnesses. Please share this with the county commissioners and county manager. Sincerely, Mindy Greiling President, NAMI Ramsey County Michele Gran Board Member, NAMI Ramsey County Author: NAMI ramsey board member michele granWith editing help from the NAMI Ramsey board. A new provision to the Minnesota Civil Commitment Act is called voluntary engagement. The purpose is to allow counties to develop relationships with people with mental illnesses in order to intervene early when symptoms are appearing or reappearing instead of waiting until they are a danger to themselves or others. In order to be eligible for engagement services, the person must be at least 18 years old, have a mental illness, and either (1) be exhibiting the signs of a serious mental illness such as hallucinations, mania, delusional thoughts, or inability to care for themselves; or (2) they have a history of failing to adhere with treatment for their mental illness that has been a key factor in the past for a hospitalization or incarceration, and the person is now showing the symptoms that may lead to hospitalization, incarceration, or court-ordered treatment. Engagement services include assertive attempts to engage the individual in mental health treatment, engaging the person’s support network including educating them on means restriction and suicide prevention, and meeting the person’s immediate needs for food, housing, medication, income, disability verification and treatment for medical conditions. Engagement services must consider a person’s personal preferences and can last for up to 90 days. They must be person-centered and can be provided even if someone is in jail. Services end if the person meets the criteria for civil commitment or if the person agrees to voluntary treatment. When an individual agrees to voluntary treatment, the engagement team must facilitate the referral to an appropriate mental health provider including help obtaining insurance. Engagement staff can be county staff or through a contracted agency. They can include, but are not limited to, members of a mobile crisis teams, certified peer specialists, and homeless outreach workers. NAMI Ramsey County wrote a letter to county commissioners in support of this new provision. You can, too!  Voluntary Engagement is voluntary for counties, which is why it’s important that you reach out to your county commissioner. Not sure what to say to support? Check out the guide below! Author: nami minnesotaPost & guide written by NAMI Minnesota. Dear County Commissioner: As you look ahead to a new year, NAMI Ramsey County (National Alliance on Mental Illness) hopes you are preparing to meet the needs of people with mental illnesses and their families. As you know, the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic are increasing both the number and severity of mental illnesses for people in Ramsey County, and the M-Health Fairview system is closing the St. Joseph’s emergency room and is likely to close the entire hospital at the end of 2021. This will be a 16% decrease in the number of inpatient psychiatric beds in the metro area. It is crucial for Ramsey County to consider all options to reduce the strain on scarce inpatient psychiatric beds. Toward that end, we urge you to support a promising new law to intervene early and prevent hospitalizations for people with mental illnesses called Services for Engagement in Treatment. NAMI Minnesota joined with other key stakeholders-–including the Association of Minnesota Counties–-to pass this comprehensive update of Minnesota’s civil commitment law, including adding this new option. Services for Engagement in Treatment is voluntary for counties. Each county must opt-in to offer this intervention. We urge you to adopt this new service and prevent the unnecessary hospitalization, incarceration, or commitment of people with serious mental illnesses. This new intervention is designed to voluntarily engage a person in treatment early in the process, when someone is either exhibiting the symptoms of a serious mental illness for the first time or exhibiting the patterns or behaviors that have previously led to hospitalization, incarceration, or a civil commitment. We could give you many examples in Ramsey County where family members are told that they must watch their child or loved one decompensate until they meet the criteria for a civil commitment. Services for Engagement in Treatment is a new law to break this cycle. If Ramsey County opts in, families and others could contact pre-petition screening at the county and ask for help. Engagement services include assertive attempts to engage the individual in mental health treatment, engaging the person’s support network (family) including educating them on available services and suicide prevention, and meeting the person’s immediate needs for food, housing, medication, income, disability verification and treatment for medical conditions. Engagement services must consider a person’s personal preferences and can last for up to 90 days. Engagement services must be person-centered and can be provided to people who are in jail. Services end if the person meets the criteria for civil commitment or if the person agrees to voluntary treatment. The needs of the mental health community are increasing while the number of hospital beds is decreasing. We urge Ramsey County to do whatever it can to divert people from hospitalization. High on that list is offering Services for Engagement in Treatment to better serve people with mental illnesses. Thank you for your time and consideration. Our board would be happy to answer your questions. Sincerely, Mindy Greiling, President Board of Directors NAMI Ramsey County Author: NAMI Ramsey county boardWith guidance from NAMI Minnesota |
