Illinois Mental Health Planning and Advisory Council- Minutes : 9/5/2019

Minutes:

September 5, 2019

Attendees from Council in Chicago:

Ray Connor, Thane Dykstra, Stephanie Frank, Meg Lewis, Ron Melka, Margo Rothlisberger, Amy Starin, Sarah Wiemeyer,

Attendees from Council by Telephone:

Georgianne Broughton, Andrea Cooke, Yasmon Diodonet, John Fallon, Sondra Frazier, Belinda Gunning, Tracy Hopkins, Nanette Larson, Joan Lodge, Jennifer McGowen-Tomke, Susan Schroeder, John Shustitzky Dr. Sidney Weissman

Attendees from the Council in Springfield:

Terry Carmichael, Shirley Davis, AJ French, Lee Ann Reinert

Resource Personnel: Pearl Madlock for William Pluta, Lisa Betz, Irwin Kerzner

Call to Order:

The Meeting was called to order by Margo Roethlisberger at 12:35 p.m. Attendance was recorded. David Albert is new to DMH and IMHPAC. He spoke of his experience to the group. He was welcomed to the group.

Approval of Minutes

It was noted that in the July 11, 2019 meeting minutes had a mistake in the date of the next meeting and Ray Connor was present in Chicago at the July 11, 2019 meeting. Ron M moved to approve the July 11, 2019 minutes with the above mentioned recommended changes. AJ French seconded the motion. Andrea Cooke abstains, all others in favor. The Motion carries and minutes have been approved with the recommended changes.

Committee Reports:

  • Development Committee Report:
    • Ron Melka reported that the Development Committee was unable to meet due to recent medical issues that he has been experiencing, therefore he was unable to conduct the meeting originally scheduled on August 29th. Attempts were made to reschedule for September 3, 2019 however not enough committee members could attend at that time. This meeting will be rescheduled.
    • Ron Melka shared the recommended revisions to the by-laws that have been submitted by council members. The recommendations will be taken into committee within the next 2 weeks for a special meeting. If anyone has other suggestions please email them to Thane Dykstra for consideration. Recommendations that have been issued are noted in bold type below.
    • ARTICLE I - NAM
      The name of this unincorporated association shall be the Illinois Mental Health Planning and Advisory Council (the "Council")
      Recommend adding Mission and Vision with Purpose
      Article VI - Committees:
      Section 3. Standing Committee.
      The standing committees shall be as follows:
    • (a) Council Development: (Agenda refers to Development Committee) This committee shall be comprised of 5 members.
    • Article VI - Committees: Section 3 - Standing Committees (b)
      PLANNING. THIS COMMITTEE SHALL REVIEW PLANS PROVIDED TO THE COUNCIL BY THE STATE PURSUANT TO 42 USC §300X-4(A) AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COUNCIL AND THE DIVISION OF MENTAL HEALTH FOR MODIFICATIONS TO THE PLANS. (IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO UNDERSTAND THE ACTUAL PURPOSE AND DUTIES SITED:
    • b) Duties
      A condition under subsection (a) for a Council is that the duties of the Council are-
      1. to review plans provided to the Council pursuant to section 300x-4(a) of this title by the State involved and to submit to the State any recommendations of the Council for modifications to the plans;
      2. to serve as an advocate for adults with a serious mental illness, children with a severe emotional disturbance, and other individuals with mental illnesses or emotional problems; and
      3. to monitor, review, and evaluate, not less than once each year, the allocation and adequacy of mental health services within the State.
    • (c) Substantive Committees. The council shall establish committees relating to the specific areas of services for persons with mental illnesses. There committees shall be responsible for devising a monitoring plan for their area of oversight; interacting with and advising the relevant state, county and municipal entities which provide services within their area of oversight; and, recommending to the Council advocacy priorities within their area of oversight. The substantive committees shall include: Recommend bullet points of responsibilities of each sub committee
  • Section 5. Other Committees does Strategic Planning committee go here??

Perhaps members should serve longer than three years and perhaps two consecutive terms due to the shortage and difficulty of locating new members to fill in the gaps.

A change was proposed to Article VI - Section 6 to a committee member can be removed from the committee because willful misconduct or absence from 50% of the committee meetings in a year.

  • Lee Ann Reinert inquired as to the plan for new members. Ron Melka clarified that new members will be voted in during the November meeting. Thane Dykstra will send notice asking for nominations for a Co-chair at least 30 days prior to the November meeting. Ron pointed out that he doesn't believe there are term limits. He will check and get back to the council with the answer.
  • Shirley Davis asked what committee covers nursing homes. Andrea Cooke pointed out that Adult Inpatient does not include nursing homes as it would be too much for the committee. Margo Rothlisberger mentioned that this would be the time to submit any suggestions with regards to what committees serve the council, what they should be called and what agencies and services are included in each. Ron Melka pointed out that committees can be added and that they can also be temporary. John Fallon mentioned confusion as to which committee includes people that could benefit from mental health services that are incarcerated in prison or jail. This would most likely be the Justice Committee; however John Fallon believes that a specific committee should address this population. Please send any suggestions with regards to committees to Thane Dykstra.

  • Adult Inpatient Committee Report:

  • Andrea Cooke reported that the committee was unable to work with their agenda until they are certain where services are needed. Three members from the committee volunteered to research where the needs are prior to the next meeting.
  • Rush Hospital inpatient unit is closed for remodeling.
  • Lee Ann Reinert asked for clarification regarding the fall risk at Madden. Andreas Cooke stated that there was a fall risk but there is no longer the risk at this time. Andrea Cooke will correct the committee minutes to reflect that improvement.
  • AJ French pointed out that there was a marked improvement in the committee minutes since the last meeting. She pointed out that a conversation regarding nursing homes with Shirley Lewis was not mentioned. AJ French requests that the minutes be corrected to include the conversation.
  • AJ French Pointed out that she was glad to see the examination of the IOP in hospitals. She asked to add finding out how many CRSS are hired while examining IOP in hospitals. Lee Ann Reinert asked that IOP be defined in the minutes. IOP is defined as Intensive Outpatient Programs and Lee Ann points out that they are limited to Masters level therapists. It was pointed out that it is not likely that you will see CRSS in those models yet it is still a good idea to ask if they have CRSS when asking about the needs.

  • Justice Committee Report:

  • AJ French reported that the Justice committee did not meet due to an error in the reminder. The committee was unable to reschedule.
  • Aj French clarified that current by-laws state that this committee does include jails and prisons.
  • The department of corrections is researching the CRSS credential proposal and giving people who are incarcerated to begin earning work supervision hours. So folks that are incarcerated would need to follow all of the guidelines such as job description and competencies to provide peer support rather than just janitorial and other kinds of tasks. The IL Certification board has informed her that the testing is not available to those that are incarcerated but they can get all the credentials and take the test after they are released.
  • Any questions about becoming a committee member please send them to Thane Dykstra and Amy Roberts so we have a good record of it.

  • Child & Adolescent Committee Report:

  • This committee has not met. As we move forward with recruitment we should seek out people that would like to join the committee. Shirley Davis asked if she would qualify as an aunt of a person that have had mental health services. The majority of the committee does need to be council members. Parents of children that have had mental health services need to be on the committee but not exclusively. Amy Starin asked if any council members could be identified that would be willing to serve on the committee. Shirley Lewis is willing to be on the committee. Anyone that is interested in joining the committee please contact Margo Rothlisberger as she decides who serves on the committees. Young adults can also be targeted as they may have more flexibility and time.

DMH Report:

  • Lee Ann Reinert noted that Director Knabe sends her regrets as she is unable to join us today. Lee Ann thanked everyone that contributed to the block grant plan which was submitted on time, last Friday. Lee Ann Reinert acknowledged Irwin Kerzner's contributions as it took a great deal of work to get everything accurately in the right format. All of the input members submitted was included. SAMSA sent a notice reviewing how to make changes to block grant requests. It is not known at this time if it is accepted as is or if revisions will need to be made. Review of the implementation report is due in December. DMH will be looking for your input in the near future. Terry Carmichael inquired as to merging substance abuse and mental health. Lee Ann noted that they do allow for a combined plan but don't require it. This is not the direction Illinois is going at this time. Amy Starin stated that she reviewed the plan and gave feedback. She noted that there was a lot in the report that was unclear as to what was going on. She asked if there was a way to hear more about what is happening without looking at the report and responding to it. Lee Ann Reinert will invite people from sections of the report to come as guest speakers to address various parts of the plan. Ray Connor Moves that DMH Deputy Director leadership will be scheduled to inform council members on specific services provided within DMH that are included in the Block Grant Report. Ron Melka seconds the motion. A vote was taken. John Shustitzky abstains. All in favor with no opposition. The motion carries.
  • Lisa Betz mentioned a piece of legislation HB907 requiring a webpage to address potential bullying and school violence. They are working with Illinois state police on it and hoping to have it up and running by October 1, 2019. They are looking for contributions if anyone has any. Please send any contributions to lisa.j.betz@tillinois.gov. The website will be imbedded in the DHS webpage. Suicide prevention links and human trafficking links will be included as well. It will be a live webpage.
  • John Fallon pointed out that substance abuse and mental health do co-exist. Terry Carmichael points out that there is a committee addressing substance abuse that is completely separate from the IMHPAC. Stephanie Frank will send a link to Thane Dykstra and it will be shared with the full council.
  • Brock Dunlap presented the financial report. Brock noted that additional funding was granted for mental health services. There is a 2.5% increase in Medicaid rates and the proposal includes base rate and add on. There is no dollar amount figured as of yet. There is also a 2.5% increase in funding for the majority of capacity grants. They are still working on housing expansion and mental health services for farmers. There is a capital bill that is looking at affordable housing and federally qualified health centers. Notice of funding opportunities will be sent out and awards will be based on scores. There is no time table. Brock states that he doesn't have all the details at this time.
  • Stephanie Frank asked for details describing rule 132 and 140. Rule 132 in the past governed community mental health. Three years ago a service provision could occur in a wider variety. Rule 140 took its place leaving rule 132 specifically for the certification of community health members. AJ French expressed gratitude that agencies will get more money. Her concern is that peer groups are not getting any additional funds. Lee Ann Reinert noted that there is nothing stopping peer delivered services from getting funds. Brock Dunlap stated that the notices of bids are published on the website and the directions to respond are in the notice. On-line trainings are available to help providers learn how to use the system. Terry Carmichael recommended that AJ talk to local representatives since the money will most likely be doled out that way. AJ would like to add 'The role of peer operated organizations in the state's mental health system' to the next agenda. John Fallon recommended DMH work with DRS to get ongoing training for peer run agencies to learn how to get funds. He suggested a committee be created and led by AJ French to address the need. Lee Ann Reinert will look into getting someone from DRS to assist.
  • Lee Ann Reinert announces that Jennie Melton is leaving for a new position. This is her last meeting. Lee Ann thanked her for her help with the council.

IHFS Report:

- Nothing to report

New Business:

  • Margo inquired about a resource organization that is working with Chance the Rapper. There is a foundation that is awarding money to five or six organizations of their choosing. The date is nearing for them to announce who they will be awarding money to.
  • Dr. Wiessman asked why it has become so difficult to get Psychiatric staff at Madden. He would like for someone from DHS to find out what the issue is and bring the answer back to the next meeting as an agenda item. A discussion regarding whether there is a shortage in Illinois as a whole or just Madden took place. Lee Ann will try to bring hospital leadership as one of the speakers to the next meeting.

Public Comment:

- No public comment.

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn was made at 2:29 p.m by AJ French. Motion was seconded by Amy Starin. Meeting adjourned.

Next Meeting:

Scheduled for November 7, 2019 - 12:30 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Thane Dykstra

IMHPAC Secretary