IMHPAC: Minutes - Special Meeting of the Development Committee - Thursday April 25, 2019,

Special Meeting of the Development Committee - Thursday April 25, 2019, 3:00 PM

Via teleconference 1-888-494-4032; 655-354-1942#

1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Ronald Melka at 3:03 pm.
   In attendance: Ron Melka, Nanette Larson, Margo Roethlisberger and Guests Andrea Cooke, James Kellerman, Kate Mahoney and Irwin Kerzner.
2. Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved with the addition of the item discussing Committee Members absences immediately before the public comment.
3. Approval of Minutes of the February 28, 2019, Meeting: Motion by Nanette, second by Margo to approve the minutes as presented. Motion carried unanimously.
4. Membership Categories: Ron described how Amy Ramos sent out a request to members to declare which category of membership they would be categorized in, and the response. Currently, IMHPAC has the following number of members in these categories:
   Consumer: 9
   Parent of SED: 6
   Family Member of a Consumer: 4
   Other: 7
   State Employee:
   Provider: 15
   While several members may fit into more than one category, they can only declare one. If the individual is representing a provider or is a state agency as an employee, they should identify themselves as such, even if they fit into another category.The Federal SAMHSA requirement is that we have between 45 and 55 members, and that we do not have a majority of members who are either providers of mental health services or employees of the State. With a total of 48 members, of which 21 are either providers or State employees, we now met that requirement.
5. Applications for new membership: Three candidates have requested membership in IMHPAC: Alice Kieft, Scott Noble and Julius Mercer. All have identified themselves as consumers. Each committee member has received the request from these individuals along with any documentation they have submitted. Nanette moved and Margo seconded that the Committee recommend the following individuals for IMHPAC membership.
   1. Alice Kieft have been on state team of Illinois Imagines (with Lora Thomas), an organization that has helped to change laws, written Guides for first respondents, parents and guardians, hospital personnel and currently, a self-advocate guide. She has presented at National Conferences for the VERA Institute of Justice. Alice holds Bachelors in Sociology and Social Work from Bradley University and a Masters of Arts in Audio/video Production from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting.
   2. Scott Noble is an outreach worker and advisory board member at Emmaus Ministries in Chicago. He also is an Advisory Board Member and Team Research Leader, at the Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago. He has worked on several research projects and presented on various topics, such as medication adherence, mental illness, and survival sex workers. He conducted surveys; facilitated focus groups and interventions with struggling clients to help improve their lives; and counseled clients to help them manage medications and take control of their health. He is also on other advisory boards and volunteer positions.
   3. Julius Mercer is currently a lived experienced researcher for Serious Mental Illness and Health Disparities, at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Kansas State university and states that his combined work history as a Social Worker and Lived experience allows him to have a positive impact with removing the 'Stigma' of services needed. He is a former U.S. Olympic Hopeful in Track & Field (84') and Author of the book,'A New fire In You'
      Each of the three motions passed unanimously and they are recommended to the IMHPAC for full membership at the May meeting.
6. Recruitment of Potential Council Members: Ron addressed the continued need to recruit consumers, parents of SED and Family members to join IMHPAC. He thanked Irwin for putting together a letter and updated the IMHPAC membership information packet. This was sent out to members that are consumers, family members, etc. and resulted in the 3 new candidates we considered today. If the IMHPAC membership Ron also recommended that we continue recruiting new members; however, rather than have them be considered at every IMHPAC meeting, we introduce any new ones at the fall meeting per our bylaws and vote on them as part of the annual slate at that time. This would then have the process follow the guidelines in our bylaws. We had
7. Public Comment: Andrea reported that two committee members have been absent for the past 11 months and others are willing to join the committee. Ron stated that, as the Development Committee, per our bylaws, only contains five members appointed by the board chairs. Matt Perry had agreed at our last meeting to pursue this matter, though he has not reported back yet. Ron requested that the chairs contact the members in question, and assign replacements if necessary. Margo agreed to do so.
8. Adjournment: a motion for adjournment was made by Nannette. The motion carried unanimously at 3:22 pm.