CESSA - Region 8 Committee Meeting Approved Minutes 02/16/2023

Community Emergency Services and Support Act (CESSA) Region 8 Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes -  February 16, 2023 - 1:00-2:30 via Zoom

Meeting Minutes - Approved by Members 03/23/2023

  • Call to Order/Roll Call
    • Lori Carnahan opens the meeting at 1:02pm.
    • Attending: Dr. Valerie Philips, Dr. Mark Cichon, Dr. Daryl Wilson, Lori Carnahan, Jennifer Brothers, Scott A. Spinazola, Matthew Buckley, Todd Rountree, Jean DeCaro, Jason Arres, Michael Mavrogeorge, Sibil Kuruvilla, Sarah Wiemeyer, Sydney Talavera, Corrine Swiatek, Jillianne Chuffo, Nicole Lamela, Robert Franciere, Daniel P. Rietveld, Kent Adams, Robert Schultz, Jason Zbrozek, Jim Moldenhaur, and Zachary Blaine. Kent Adams joined the call 10 minutes late
    • Absent: Mark J. Puknaitis, Bill Srejma,,Ryan Klavohn, Alex Johnson, Dr. Stephen Graham
  • Open Meetings Act
    • Lori Carnahan read the instructions regarding the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
    • Group was informed that the meeting was being recorded.
  • Approval of the Minutes from January Meeting
    • No changes noted.
    • Motion to Approve: Dr. Valerie Phillips
    • Second Motion: Dr. Mark Cichon
  • Overview: The Continuum of Law Enforcement/Behavioral Health Responses
    • Presentation to guide discussion of the meeting.
    • CESSA does not prohibit law enforcement from participating in resolving certain situations and co-responder models and CIT training remain valuable assets in the continuum.
    • Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model - 40-hour training for officers to have better knowledge and understanding to support better outcomes for mental health calls/linkage.
    • Co-responder Teams - Clinician with officer in hopes to reduce unnecessary arrests and increase safety. Also, to reduce ED transports and hospitalizations. Increases linkage to community care. One downside is that it is not usually 24/7.
    • Mobile Crisis Response Teams - Dependent on 988 and currently 66 providers in IL. There is limited research but seem to increase connections to the right services within community. One downside is that response times are slower than 911.
  • Committee Task: Understanding Local Resources for Alternative Responses
    • Sarah Wiemeyer with Thrive shared that they do co-responder teams that are available 24/7 that local villages are supporting.
    • Sibil Kuruvilla with Presence has been doing co-responder team model which is 24/7, but on-call overnight.
    • Matthew Buckley shared that currently many officers are CIT trained except for the ones freshly coming out of academy. Dispatchers and EMS is also being trained.
    • Jason Zbrozek and Jason Arres shared that Naperville PD is CIT training all officers and working on training dispatchers and FD as well. They shared that Naperville PD has co-responder unit which consists of four social workers on staff.
    • Jason Arres shared that they are training all their own staff even though it is very expensive.
    • Todd Rountree shared that many officers coming out of the academy do not have the CIT training because he believes you must have at least 2 years of experience prior. He would like to see this requirement be changed because of their young staff.
    • Lori Carnahan shared that DuPage County Health Department has a post-crisis response model which is effective but very small scale.
    • Jean DeCaro and Sarah Wiemeyer shared that their organizations receive a small volume of 988 calls.
    • Lori Carnahan shared that hiring engagement specialists can be difficult especially for night shifts.
    • Many people agreed that we need more data which UIC will be helping with.
  • State Updates
    • Calendar of deliverables with subcommittee activities.
    • All subcommittee meetings are open and can be attended.
  • Schedule Remaining RAC Meeting
    • March 16th, 2023, at 1-2:30pm.
    • April 20th, 2023, at 1-2:30pm.
    • May 18th, 2023, at 1-2:30pm.
    • June 15th, 2023, at 1-2:30pm.
  • Next Meeting
    • The next meeting will take place on March 16th, 2023, at 1:00-2:30pm via Zoom.
  • Public Comment
    • Christopher Baldwin, director of database services with PATH, shared that if anyone had questions about PATH that he is happy to help and will be attending future meetings.
    • Matt Fishback shared that having someone with lived experience is valuable.
    • Dan Wasmer shared that he had more questions about how 988 operators conduct a warm handoff.
  • Motion to Adjournment
    • Motion to Adjourn: Dr. Mark Cichon
    • Second Motion: Matthew Buckley
    • The meeting was adjourned by Lori Carnahan at 2:00pm.