CESSA Statewide Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes 02/10/2025

Approved by Committee Members 03/10/2025

Community Emergency Services and Support Act (CESSA) Statewide Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes - Monday, February 10, 2025 - 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Call to Order/Roll Call

  • Director David Albert called the meeting to order at 1:01 pm
  • Director David Albert reviewed the agenda

Roll Call and Approval of Minutes from January 13, 2025

  • Brent Reynolds moved to approve the minutes from January 13, 2025; Curtis Harris seconded the motion. Quorum present and motion passed.
  • Members present and voted to approve:
    • Jessica Gimeno (Designee for Candace Coleman)
    • Curtis Harris
    • James Hennessy
    • Brent Reynolds
    • David Albert
    • Bobby Van Bebber
    • Drew Hansen
    • Pete Dyer
    • Rachael Ahart
    • Blanca Campos
    • Emily Miller
    • Justin Houcek
    • Brittany Watson
    • Cindy Barbera-Brelle
  • Absent members:
    • Jim Kaitschuk

State Updates (David Albert)

  • New Chief Behavioral Health Officer in Illinois was recently appointed: Dr. Inger Burnett-Zeigler
  • Mandatory training reminder from Barbara Hobrock. Contact Sarah Ferguson or Melissa Guy if unable to access your training account

Public comment

  • Public Comment from SAC Jan. 13, 2025/Lynette Bergeron, Kencom Public Safety Dispatch: I see that police protocols have been added such as suspicious person. Do all of the PSAPs that use Priority Dispatch and APCO all have police protocols? My understanding is that for Priority Dispatch and APCOs, police and fire protocols have to be purchased separately. I am just curious if all PSAPs that use Priority Dispatch and APCO have purchased these modules. If not, how will they be able to follow the protocols?
    • Cindy Barbera-Brelle: Our response is that suspicious person, which is a law enforcement protocol, is one of the protocols of focus in the Total Response Power Phone pilot. Total Response provides users with a full range of protocols when they purchase Total Response software. Some law enforcement protocols that may have a mental health component are included in the Total Response pilot because the goal of CESSA is to provide a mental health response as an alternative to a law enforcement-only response when appropriate. Including targeted law enforcement protocols in addition to EMS protocols in the pilot provides an opportunity for 911 telecommunicators to consider referring calls that may have a mental health component that may not have been considered in the past as mental health related to 988 and/or to mobile crisis response for a mental health response. We understand that some PSAPs currently use a range of vendor protocols while others only use the EMD protocols. PSAPs participating in the Priority Dispatch and APCO pilots are not required to purchase additional protocols to participate in the pilots.

UIC Behavioral Health Crisis Hub Updates (Dr. Lorrie Rickman Jones)

  • Wednesday, June 11, 2025: Forum (at the UIC Forum)
  • Tuesday, March 11: Discussion (about issue raised by Chief Gault) is scheduled for law enforcement and public health representatives

Pilot Updates (Dr. Mary Smith)

Overview of Protocol Implementation Process

  • Pilot kickoff was held January 28; three PSAPs launched on January 29

Total Response (formerly PowerPhone) Pilot Updates

  • Biweekly check-ins to resolve issues/concerns will be held with 911 PSAPs, with 988 Centerstone, and with mobile crisis response teams
  • Five PSAPs launched by February 5
  • May 2025: Pilot evaluation and review of findings

Priority Dispatch Updates

  • January 29: Workgroup meeting held with PSAPs who will be participating in pre-test and Priority Dispatch principals
  • February: focus on protocol mapping, identifying calls that could be referred to 988, and testing data reporting
  • February/March: finalization of pilot site participants; gathering information and assessing readiness; working on reporting detail; convening meetings with all pilot participants to review guidance; training of pilot participants

APCO Update

  • Continued review of protocols; looking at recommendations for modifications; and meeting with vendor to modify protocols
  • Late February: Pre-test planning
  • March: Pilot planning and preparation

Learnings and Feedback Discussion

What we learned so far from launching the pilot

  1. Different systems representing different work cultures also have different preferred ways of taking in information.
  2. We need to confirm that the vendor changes have been completed and that PSAPs have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the changes before launch.
  3. Repetition and frequent communication are important.
  4. It's important to have leaders from those sectors be a part of the communication.

Discussion

  • Jim Hennessy: I think that all people, they learn in a lot of different ways. Typically, when it comes to dispatch centers, we try to give that information out in multiple different ways, whether it's a procedure that's written, then someone going over that procedure with them in person. So, when you're talking about changes to a protocol card, mainly it would be the protocol cards would be posted. We'd have someone meet with those people individually and talk about the protocol cards and talk about what has changed and how that interacts with their process. So, we would try to hit multiple different types of ways that we would communicate that with them, but as far as preference it is pretty much up to the individual.
  • Lorrie Jones: So, you're saying that, typically when you've got protocol changes, the staff are met with on an individual basis?
  • Jim Hennessy: Not always. It depends on how big the change is. If you're changing one sentence of a procedure, that's not typically needed. But when you're going from police-fire-EMS to police-fire-EMS-mental health, and helping the telecommunicators actually navigate identifying mental health awareness and how to incorporate that into their call taking, it is something that would have to take some time with those dispatchers to go over that in some sort of capacity.
  • Brittany Watson: Hi, so I am approaching this from the standpoint of...our mobile crisis response team, which I'm a part of. And I think for us, we don't mind a longer narrative, but I'm thinking in terms of communicating with dispatch, or communicating with other medical or emergency personnel, I think we typically operate best with short descriptions, very to the point of what's going on. And then we prefer to get the meat of our narrative directly from the clients and the client's family. So, just thinking, if a dispatcher gave me a short description of what's going on, I should be able to know what I'm walking into, but I wouldn't hold them or an EMT responsible for giving me a very professional detailed clinical description of what's going on. And that way we can kind of guide ourselves, and you use our assessment tools to guide what more information we need.
  • Brent Reynolds: [Clarified that the question is about how telecommunicators/staff learn best.] I'll start by saying that this is a drastic change for 911...For those that do EMD, learning new protocols is not a huge challenge. I think the biggest challenge with our telecommunicators is getting to the point that they understand-it's not just going to be medical calls where they're going to, it appears now to be asking questions that they don't normally ask in their everyday call handling. I would look at it as a self learning opportunity for them to have a basic understanding of what the changes are, and then I would assume some type of either virtual classroom or a classroom training where they have the ability to ask questions, and understand what their expectations are. And then probably some trial/offline dry runs.
  • Jessica Gimeno: I appreciate what Dr. Jones was saying about repetition. Some people are visual learners, so the human mind comprehends color faster than words. Whether with the disability community or outside of it, a fast way to communicate a lot of information would be with color.
  • Blanca Campos: Specifically for 590 providers, I believe that they still have those regular meetings, right? I wonder if there's an opportunity to leverage those meetings because you have the key folks attending those. So really leverage that existing meeting to make sure that everyone is on the same page and knows what the expectations are, disseminate information, answer questions, and (if needed) do any training there.
  • Brenda Hampton: It is [still happening] to an extent because all of the mobile crisis response teams are not involved in the pilot. And so we want to make sure that we're focusing on those who are in the pilot. So yes, to an extent that happens, but it's not universal for all mobile crisis response teams, which is why the breakout group is so important where we're having the meetings with the mobile crisis response teams that are part of the pilot.
  • Blanca Campos: Oh, sorry. I meant the other ones. I meant, as we're moving forward post pilot phase, just in terms of 590 specifically, leveraging those state meetings because I know they were happening, I believe monthly, but with the bigger 590 group. I think if we can again leverage that existing meeting or reconvene that meeting (if it stopped for some reason or it's no longer being held), I know our folks were engaged.
  • Brenda Hampton: Yes, Blanca, you're speaking of the learning collaborative. And the issue with the learning collaborative, there's so many other people who are now participating in that. It started with just the mobile crisis response team project directors, but then we got a conglomeration of other people who wanted to hear, who wanted to participate. So, we have to figure out how to revise or restructure so that we could specifically focus on the project directors.
  • Rachael Ahart: Yeah, so on the law enforcement end, as far as taking in information and learning related to CESSA, there are legislative updates that go out, so part of it is through written [content]. The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board also determines the frequency for all of the mandated trainings, and I know that they are already integrating information about CESSA, but they'll continue to do so in their 40 hour CIT course. There's an advanced or refresher CIT course, the intro to academies, and their 8 hour mental health awareness training, and there's certain trainings that are online trainings. There's some that are hands on scenario-based training, and then all the different law enforcement agencies, as they update policies and procedures internally, have different mechanisms for like sign-offs and acknowledgments. Different departments will do in-service training for their officers. Some will send them to mobile training unit classes, and then there's also like briefing or roll call trainings, so that would be more like a small group where they can ask questions like some other people were talking about. So really a variety of different ways that that information comes in and is disseminated.
  • Emily Miller: A couple things. I want to piggyback on what Blanca was saying. From the provider perspective, the opportunity for face-to-face conversation, allowing real life questions and answers at certain points in time, helps providers especially as they're just learning. If there's new rules/procedures/policies/regulations, they can get live answers as they're going. But, I think providers themselves are used to long, explicit, really thoughtful explanations via provider manuals. They read rules. They're used to them. From our end as a trade association, our responsibility is to make sure that they have as much information as possible. So, we sent them long, thoughtful explanations of new laws and regulations and rules and policies and procedures and all of the above. I think providers are definitely on the closer end of learning through really thoughtful, explicit pieces of writing. On the flip side of that, as technology has evolved, I think the presence of on-demand webinars/slide presentations can be really useful to folks who are extremely busy and may not have a lot of time throughout the day but will have something to go back to. I know that, with the ability to record webinars and post links to them for reviewing at other times, we've gotten a lot of positive feedback on that. I think, as the entities are tasked with implementing so many different things, I think that they're always very appreciative to have those in-depth manuals that can lead them step-by-step and make sure that they are dotting every "i" and crossing every "t."
  • Jim Hennessy: For PSAPs, another thing that would be helpful is if the calls that you guys are marking as flagged as transferred to 988, if there was a way that you guys could get recordings of some of those calls, so that they could be played for the next round of dispatchers that are coming through and see how that process went. It might also help to get people to see exactly what we're talking about with the process so they could actually hear it and see the call outcome.
  • Lorrie Jones: That's something we can investigate. Thanks.
  • Brent Reynolds: I would second that recommendation. There's a lot of folks guessing what this is going to mean going forward. [It would be good to have] something that is real and experience that before they get started.
  • Lorrie Jones: We may have some confidentiality issues with an actual call, an actual person, but we'll figure it out. We'll think about what we can do.
  • Brent Reynolds: I'm sure we can help you fix that issue.
  • Justin Houcek: Quick question. Couldn't you use that as part of the on-demand training? You could tape someone, like Brett was saying and then get them to accept that, and use that as the on-demand.
  • Lorrie Jones: Absolutely. Thanks, Justin.
  • Bobby Van Bebber: As far as 1st responders and communication, I think that a lot of my 1st responder colleagues on the call would probably agree, there was talk about the amount of detail that 1st responders are able to use, but it's also important to realize that 1st responders are acting in very critical situations, so their communication styles really tend to be clear, direct and succinct. Now the actual question that we're addressing right now about education, as someone that's dabbled in education myself, I see some of the best work around learning with simulation. The simulation and role play are included and I think that that kind of goes with the conversation that was going on right before I started speaking...maybe not an actual call or maybe a reenactment as far as training. I think that really helps develop critical thinking and clear competency in those role play situations. And, you know, an EMS uses a role play and some of that psychomotor simulation skills, a lot of times ahead of using skills in a real life setting, which is very beneficial.
  • Jessica Gimeno: So, I'd met this provider when I was giving a speech about CESSA and she was saying it would be helpful if they could hear a call, like a simulation because they know privacy is important and we can't reveal certain names and data, but a simulation of what it would look like from the moment 911 is called all the way through the end, what CESSA would look like and having that simulation of scenarios would be helpful.
  • Justin Houcek: We need to be told three times in order for us to retain it. I do wonder if that can also come in three different ways, written, visual, etc. But I wanted to back you on that; repetition helps me and those that I have to teach.

Communications Updates (Sarah Ferguson and Erin Condon)

The discussion questions from January 13, 2025 SAC Meeting were reviewed.

Themes and Action Steps from Breakout Groups were discussed:

  • First Responders and PSAPs
    • First responders are looking for more details about implementation in practice, coverage availability, across the state, and the role of law enforcement, and how CESSA impacts other issues like liability and involuntary commitment
    • Collaboration at the local level and across the state is key - know your partners in the work
    • To get people to support CESSA, we need to share what it looks like at the end. Future expectations and roles need to be expressed
  • Community Service Providers
    • Need to prioritize effectively serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
    • Clear and consistent messaging will clearly define CESSA vs. SASS, two co-existing systems
    • Importance of community (and provider) education and different approaches to messaging different stakeholders
    • Need effective communication with law enforcement
    • Explain that CESSA is not 988, keep messaging separate
  • Advocates
    • Need collaboration that includes disabled people and people with lived experience
    • Important to emphasize living room models and limiting hospitalization
    • More public education about crisis services, including 988 and alternative responses
    • Providers and doctors can be ambassadors when equipped with the right resources
  • Discussion
    • Justin Houcek: I remember when this all started, we were trying to make it so that the law enforcement could be somewhat of a referral service. So if providers and doctors can be ambassadors, can law enforcement as well?
    • Sarah Ferguson: I'll let our law enforcement reps answer, but from my perspective, last time the advocates group was saying that if they are given communications materials/flyers about CESSA, we can pass them out to other providers, who can then share it with their clients. Whereas the law enforcement group was really saying, "hey, we need flyers so that our responders/EMS folks/police officers in the streets know what CESSA is." So just the materials would be different-for people using services and for police officers.
    • Justin Houcek: I wonder what it would be like if I were to try to walk into and just get more familiar with law enforcement themselves...We're trying to have it so that the police are not here for something like this, but then, aren't we also then separating? And they're not gonna be used to who we are? So I do wonder, in some cases of a small business owner, I wonder should be out there going, 'hey,' and talking about like my part and standing up for me and Curtis and saying, 'we're the people you're discussing, you need to meet us a little bit more maybe.' I don't know. It was just a thought that came to my head.
    • Sarah Ferguson: Each group mentioned collaboration and I feel like what you're discussing is the collaboration in practice. How do we actually make that happen is a great point.
    • Lorrie Jones: That could be tagged to community policing efforts in various law enforcement districts. When we have Jim or police reps on the phone again, maybe we delve into that a little deeper.
    • Brittany Watson: What we see in crisis response a lot -988 referrals aside-is our community partners like providers, doctors, and police officers. There are times when we will get a call after a client has already been transported to the hospital, because they might be under the impression that's where we need to meet them or whatever the reason and a big part of the mobile crisis response team is that we want to come to your doctor's office. We want to come to the police station. We want to come to your home or to the library or wherever you are if we can, because in efforts to deescalate, we want to give the client the most options, and that starts at the foundation. So sometimes, for context, what we might see happen is a client will go to the doctor's office, advocate for themselves that their depressive symptoms are progressing, that their medications need to be adjusted or they want to start medication, and when they're asked about the suicide screening, they reply that they are suicidal. And the doctors sometimes will end up stopping the assessment, stopping the appointment and saying, "well, now we need you to have a crisis assessment," and can be seen oftentimes sending those clients to the hospital without calling us first. So, when I made that comment, I'm thinking that I wish that doctors, providers (obviously our police force is highly involved with us already), and hospitals understood what CESSA is, what 988 is, and what the responsibilities of the mobile crisis response are. This would be also reducing hospital bills and we're meeting all those goals that we have set up. So if doctors and ambassadors were created in these unique positions to uphold these CESSA standards, then they would utilize the resources more was my thinking. But you're absolutely right and police officers do need to be included in that because the community referrals that we get are very crucial and come in a lot more than 988 in our community. So, it's just as equally important.

Feedback from RAC #1

  • RAC and SAC can/should use metrics from pilot to determine gaps in services in the community
  • RAC and SRC to engage those in region that have been less involved / those who have been waiting to see how things will impact them without getting involved
    • At a statewide level, do presentations at conferences where PSAPS, EMS, Fire are already present (present at "their" events)
    • Hold a summit in those communities where there has been minimal involvement and include representatives from communities where there has been significant involvement.
  • Other RACs/RAC Co-Chairs have been asked to provide feedback by February 28

Communications Next Steps

  • Up next: Website updates, FAQ flyers for various stakeholder groups (there will be opportunities to provide feedback on an early draft)

Technical Subcommittee Updates

Technology, Systems Integration & Data Management Subcommittee (Pete Eckart)

  • February meeting recap: 988 data updates, planning for a 2025 baseline assessment, sample dashboard
  • Examples of data visualization tool: Hawai'i CARES Crisis Center, Cincinnati Alternative Response to Crisis Program, New Orleans Mobile Crisis Intervention Unit, HEART (Durham's Crisis Response Program)
  • Justin Houcek: I found Hawaii's hard to read and hard to disseminate. But for NOLA, Cincinnati, Durham-even though Pete said that Durham is busy-the amount of information is wonderfully insane. I just found Hawaii's so hard to read, even with the legend, you couldn't read it. But otherwise, I like that kind of data stuff, where you can find just about anything you're looking for.
  • Blanca Campos: For the Cincinatti one, for example, I wonder how long they have been collecting this data and what kind of supports they offered different organizations to capture the data. I wonder what that looked like and if you have any insight.
  • Pete Eckart: I don't know. We've been sort of starting to track what's happening in other places and one of the things I think is true about Cincinnati, is that they're using the same technology that we are going to use. We hope that we'll be able to sort of piggyback on the work that's happened in other public municipalities but I wouldn't say that we are experts at all in what folks have been doing.

Training and Education Subcommittee (Dr. Terry Solomon)

  • 604 people have completed training for pilots
  • Currently revising PSAP pilot de-escalation training based on feedback from PSAP pilot sites (revisions expected to be completed by the end of February)

Protocols and Standards Subcommittee Updates (Dr. Mary Smith)

  • Subcommittee met on January 16, 2025 and February 6, 2025; focus was the pre-tests and pilots

Regional Updates (Brenda Hampton)

  • Announcing upcoming summit meetings; each RAC has been asked to host a summit/town hall to kick off development of subregional committee structures, bring local constituents to the table, and educate the public
    • Thursday, February 13, 1-2 pm: RAC 8 Virtual Summit
    • Thursday, March 6, 1-2:30 pm: RAC 6 Summit (in-person and virtual options
  • Subregional Committees Growth Chart - vetted by RAC vote
    • #2 - Illinois Regional Valley
    • #3 - Christian, Shelby, and Montgomery counties
    • #8 - Lyons Township Area Community Center
    • This chart will evolve and appear at future SAC meetings

SAC Next Steps (Dr. Lorrie Jones)

  • Pilots in process; de-escalation PSAP training to be revised and future trainings to be accessible on the LMS

Next Meeting Dates

  • Monday, March 10, 2025, 10 am-1 pm
    • In-person meeting in Chicago (Access Living)
    • Virtual option available
  • Monday, April 14, 2025, 1-3 pm, virtual meeting

Public Comment

* Cory Christenson: Hi, I'm an officer with the Plano Police Department in Illinois. My wheels were spinning on the information sharing and how police receive that...I wanted to make sure that all you stakeholders were aware...First of all, thank you for letting me be here and listen and talk. Obviously, you guys are aware that the police raise concerns about 988 and mental health professional only responses. So, I'm bought in and I love CESSA and that's why I'm here, but I know that there's frequently that boundary/barrier for police to buy into that and then what the response looks like because we have 988 cards and behavioral health resources that I always give out to people and I know my fellow officers do it as well. But, [for] my other officers, what I think would help with their buy-in is that they know that this is more effective, and I don't know how or what that looks like. That's just something to think about, when we're doing FAQ sheets for police and trainings, keep in mind that a lot of cops, at least in my PD, don't have the buy-in to think this is going to be the next step in law enforcement, because we always responded to mental health crises, and this is always going to be a police thing because it is and will be, but how that looks like in transition, how the police might transition out of that, I think it's going to be hard for police to understand until it starts happening and getting traction.

Adjournment