CESSA Statewide Advisory Committee Meeting Approved Minutes 06/09/2025

CESSA Statewide Advisory Committee Meeting Approved Minutes 06/09/2025

Time: 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Virtual (via Zoom)

Call to Order (David Albert)

  • David Albert called the meeting to order at 1:02 pm and reviewed OMA procedures

Roll Call (Sarah Ferguson)

  • Members present: Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Jessica Gimeno (designee for Candace Coleman), Justin Houcek, Jim Hennessy, Brent Reynolds, David Albert, Bobby Van Bebber, Rachael Ahart, Jim Kaitschuk, Blanca Campos, Emily Miller
    • Present later in the meeting: Curtis Harris (joined at 1:11 pm after roll call), Drew Hansen (joined at 1:30 pm after roll call), Pete Dyer (joined at 2:20 pm after roll call)
  • Members absent: Brittany Watson
  • Quorum is present

Approval of Minutes from SAC Meeting on May 12, 2025 (Allie Lichterman and Sarah Ferguson)

  • Cindy Barbera-Brelle motioned to approve the minutes from May 12, 2025; Bobby Van Bebber seconded the motion
  • No discussion or suggested changes
  • Members who voted to approve the minutes: Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Justin Houcek, Jim Hennessy, Brent Reynolds, David Albert, Rachael Ahart, Bobby Van Bebber, Jim Kaitschuk, Blanca Campos, Emily Miller
  • Members who abstain: Jessica Gimeno (designee for Candace Coleman)
  • Quroum approved the minutes from May 12, 2025, and the motion passed

State Updates (Allie Lichterman)

  • Response to Previous Public Comments
    • One public comment received during May 12, 2025, meeting
    • Allie Lichterman summarized comment from Zach Gittrich and will provide a written response after the meeting
    • Allie Lichterman: He provided general feedback about implementation and asked specifically about co-response and police social workers and about parts of the alternate/co-response landscape that aren't necessarily funded by the state. The SAC is tasked with finalizing the Illinois Interim Risk Level Matrix; as we work towards going from the interim matrix to the final one, we have talked about a wide range of alternate options, both state and non-state funded models. 911 State Administrator is working with the Hub to gather more information on the prevalence and role of police social workers specifically. Update to be provided later today. Hopefully the updated final matrix will facilitate stronger collaboration between all parts of the crisis landscape.
  • Legislative updates
    • Legislation passed: CESSA bill would 1) create parameters for behavioral health workers interacting with involuntary commitment and 2) extend CESSA implementation deadline
    • Legislation passed: The 1.65% 988 surcharge also passed; will help fund 988 and mobile crisis response and bring in estimated $30-50 million
  • 988 Campaign

988 Campaign (Sally Huffer)

  • Highlighting May 2025 campaign results: IDHS ran a multi-channel digital marketing campaign targeting audiences who show the highest need for suicide prevention and mental health support. Ads educated audiences on the availability of 988 and when to use it, with the end goal of reducing suicide rates among high-risk individuals
    • Highlighting top-performing social posts
    • Includes list of organizations that were sent emails to increase awareness of 988 services
  • Monthly updates about 988 landing page
    • Out of 29,365 pageviews, 24,522 users visited the landing page to learn more about 988
    • There was a refresh on 5/1 and 5/15 where you can see an uptick in pageviews
    • The top sources were Google Search Ads, Display Ads, and Snapchat Ads
    • Average engagement time was 24 seconds
    • Top locations: Chicago, Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, Bloomington
    • 1,482 clicks made on the landing page; 20% increase from last month
  • Questions
    • Justin Houcek: I noticed on the advertising campaigns; will they change based on neighborhood? For example, the image of the white farmer makes sense in certain rural parts of the state. But, this image wouldn't make sense in a historically Black urban neighborhood.
      • Sally Huffer: Yes, we will show the image of the rural farmer more so in downstate areas than in Chicago. We are taking demographic data into account when we decide where to distribute ads, including billboards and social media (via geo routing).
      • Sally Huffer also added that there is diversity in the ads/images, including people of color; male, female, and transgender; and people with disabilities.
    • Jessica Gimeno: It's great that we have increased views since the previous month. Are we able to distinguish between novel views and repeat views? Do we know if the 1,482 includes people who visited the website multiple times? And the average engagement time was 24 seconds. Is there a comparison like that for the previous month? What was the average engagement time or comparison to another website?
      • Sally Huffer: We don't have the data comparing one month to the next, but we certainly can do that. We have a contractor who can pull that for us.
      • Allie Lichterman: We can follow up.
    • Curtis Harris: Out of 29,000, how many visitors who visit the website will learn more about 988?
      • Sally Huffer: We know that, from the 24,522 visitors to the website, they spent at least 24 seconds learning about 988.

Crisis Hub Updates (Dr. Lorrie Jones)

  • June Behavioral Health Crisis Continuum Forum
    • Virtual forum over three dates: consecutive Wednesdays June 11, June 18, and June 25, from 9am-12 pm
    • There are currently 340+ registrants for each session; capacity is 500
    • Please register and share with your colleagues
  • Conference recap: Advancing the Field of Alternative Response 2025 Convening on June 3-5 in New York City
    • Three staff were invited to attend
    • Presenters included leaders of ACR, think tanks and researchers, philanthropy, journalists and reporters, AG and state leaders of new Departments of Public Safety
    • Attendees: Leaders and staff of ACR, Law enforcement, EMTs, city officials, academics
  • Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP)
    • Clickable, nationwide map of community responder programs (beta version under development)
    • Website allows option to submit feedback on the map
    • https://beta.lawenforcementaction.org/
    • Password: LeapCR2025
  • Current state of ACR Movement compared with CESSA
    • ACR teams nationally
      • Most often created "bottom up" via advocacy/grass roots influencing local government
      • Braided funding streams
      • In cities, most use program vans
      • Most involve one or a few PSAPs
      • Dispatched by health provider, other crisis line, self or 911/EMS
      • Staffed with BH, Peer, EMT, LE, Medical
    • CESSA
      • Created "top down" via a legislative mandate
      • Funded by DMH/Medicaid
      • Teams use private cars
      • Involve 175+ PSAPs
      • Dispatched via 988 (32% nationally)
      • Staffed with BH, Peer
  • There is an "identity crisis" in mobile emergency response: Who are we?
    • May include mobile crisis response teams, BH and EMT, BH and Peers, First Responders, Mobile Emergency Response Teams, Alternative Response Teams, BH and Law Enforcement, BH and Medical
  • Takeaways
    • Supporting Communities in their journeys
      • Communities should decide what is best for them….this leads to greater buy in and collaboration
      • Support communities in their exploration of what crisis/mobile models work best for their communities with information for wide range of resources
      • Educate community widely on when/how to access services
    • Workforce
      • There is merit in considering specialized teams
      • Do we have the right workforce…. Can we train/credential non-licensed clinicians and is there a role for technology
      • Training of staff must be continuous and job descriptions must clearly define the job
    • Building collaboration
      • Messaging is "king" and must tell stories…even with data to build the case for this work with potential funders
      • "Walking in each other's shoes" goes far in creating understanding, acceptance and respect between disciplines
    • Resolving the "identity crisis" has policy implications
    • There is a belief that AR takes more time than LE dealing with BH crises. In fact, AR saves time given the amount of time that LE must spend in ERs, etc.
    • Remind stakeholders and constituents frequently why AR initiative exists. This is an important part of the message. Also important to remind stakeholders what AR can do vs what they can't do
  • Questions
    • Jim Kaitschuk: Being out there and getting a list of all the communities that are doing this, were you able to find a rural community? What are they doing and how are they implementing it? What kind of problems have they run into?
      • Lorrie Jones: There are some rural communities, but fewer than those in large cities and some counties. But there are some counties with rural areas. We can learn from those, and we will see a more exhaustive list of communities in our presentation by Jackson Beck on Wednesday. We can track them as they continue to emerge and learn together about how to lift up programs in rural communities.
    • David Albert: Did anything surprise you and your team? Every state is going about things in their own way. Is there anything in the field we should be paying attention to?
      • Lorrie Jones: There might be slight differences in approach, models, and team composition, but the mission is the same-to have a non-law enforcement response whenever possible, for a number of different reasons. One is what the community wants. Two, it can take some burden off of law enforcement and free up their time that aligns better with their training. Another thing is that the field needs to bring together bottom-up and top-down approaches. We all need to be under the tent, allowing for some individualization, but guided by a common goal and mission.
    • Jessica Gimeno: [Referring to the slide entitled "Current state of ACR Movement compared with CESSA"] To your point about having everyone under the tent, if we build strong regional advisory committees, that's how we can accomplish that goal.
      • Lorrie Jones: Agreed, we have to figure out how to put it all together under the tent.
    • Curtis Harris: I wanted to talk about different prospects between behavioral crisis in New York and across the country to what we are doing here. It's about using private cars and using dispatch 988, which only 32% are doing nationally. I know that people have started going to living rooms instead of hospitals, which saves a lot of money.
      • Lorrie Jones: Yes, absolutely. Thank you for raising that. And I think that probably needs to be discussed more: where are people taken after their intervention in the community? How do different parts of the workforce and different communities handle it differently?
    • Jessica Gimeno: What does the 32% mean [in one of the previous slides]?
      • Lorrie Jones: Percentage of locales nationally that dispatch mobile crisis response through 988. Here, we dispatch all of ours through 988.
      • Allie Lichterman: 32% of everyone uses 988, and the others use a different system to dispatch.
      • Lorrie Jones: A different system such as directly from 911, or self-dispatch. A lot of communities will have the mobile crisis response teams riding around with police radios, and they decide where to go.

Communications (Allie Lichterman)

  • CESSA communications
    • Finalized flyers to be distributed once website FAQs and dates are updated
    • Review today: FY26 DHS CESSA and Crisis Continuum Communications Plan
  • FY26 DHS CESSA and Crisis Continuum Communications Plan
    • Overall goal: Increase awareness and usage of behavioral health crisis continuum of care services among Illinois residents
    • Task: Determine top line messages for FY26
      • Using learnings from FY25 campaign, stakeholder feedback draft top line messages to be woven throughout all communications for FY26
      • Gather feedback from wide range of stakeholders
      • Finalize top line messages
    • Task: Develop materials aligned with FY26 messages for specific stakeholder groups (e.g. residents generally, Spanish speakers, LGBTQIA+ community, law enforcement, EMS, telecommunicators etc.)
      • Ask stakeholders for feedback on what kind of materials would be helpful
      • Draft materials and solicit feedback
      • Finalize and distribute materials
    • Task: Create earned media plan
      • Create timeline of milestones for FY26 (across continuum -- 988, MCRT, living rooms, crisis residential)
      • Work with IDHS Communications to develop earned media plan around upcoming newsworthy moments and top line messaging (timeline, top line messages by outlet, tracker with clear goals/decision making structure/assignments)
      • Execute plan
    • Task: Empower providers, municipalities, and other local entities of government to advertise and communicate about behavioral health crisis services that are funded by the state
      • Stakeholder engagement: ask what type of resources would be helpful, lay out plan for continued engagement and feedback
      • Create draft resources and distribution plan featuring trusted communicators in community and government
      • Collect feedback on draft resources
      • Distribute
      • Analyze Outcomes
  • Discussion
    • Questions
      • Do you have any feedback on the plan generally?
      • What resources would be most helpful for local entities?
      • What resources would be most helpful for stakeholder groups? Especially PSAPs, law enforcement, EMS, fire, providers, community organizations
      • Who needs to be consulted as we put together draft resources?
    • Blanca Campos: In terms of awareness and stakeholder engagement, we should really leverage our elected officials. We found out that states, for example, celebrate 988 Day on September 8. So next session, we might do a resolution and whatnot and really create that awareness among legislators/give them the tools to spread the word. They are at community events and have close contact with constituents. Leveraging that would be really helpful.
    • Allie Lichterman: That's a great idea. And definitely an important stakeholder, with big reach who can direct constituent calls that might be right for our services. Pivoting from there, what resources would be most helpful for local entities? Think providers, municipal government, community centers-those very trusted local resources. More flyers? Presentations they can use? Videos or social media? What information about the whole continuum would be most helpful for them to push out and inform their staff? What about an advertising toolkit that includes social media and other low-cost things to copy and paste? Maybe a staff toolkit to help someone in crisis?
    • Jim Hennessy: As far as PSAP engagement, there needs to be more. Not sure that flyers or something like that will help. The best bet would be for you guys to come out to Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board or NENA/APCO meetings, start shaking hands and talking to people. We give them updates, but it would be good for them to hear directly from DMH.
    • Allie Lichterman: That's helpful, and it's making me think about differentiating information and resources for the public versus internal stakeholders, and with those stakeholders especially in the 1st responder world. Showing we speak the same language, and we are in the same world. It would be great to go with you to events and build relationships.
    • Emily Miller: I love the idea of continued explanation resources and face-to-face meetings with stakeholders who are already involved. My concern is the lack of awareness among the general public and the continued confusion between 988 and 911 and now CESSA. How does this impact me as an individual, as a person in crisis? I don't have the magic answer, but it's something I always come back to when we talk communications. How can we make sure the general public understands?
    • Allie Lichterman: That's great and sending my brain in two directions. One is thinking about those different messaging top lines that we want to share with stakeholders and with the public. With the public, we don't need to involve the minutia of CESSA. Two, thinking about what different entities reach, and how we can maximize our outreach capacity.
    • Emily Miller: And we have to be extremely careful and thoughtful in the words we use when we are talking about communicating this to the general public. Many people don't know what CESSA is and what it stands for. Instead, just explaining what has come out of CESSA and what CESSA does, maybe not even using the word "CESSA."
    • Jessica Gimeno: I had a few points. One time at the weekly 988 Crisis Jam (from SAMSHA and Vibrant), we found that the top three ways people learned about 988 in a particular state were 1) television, 2) word of mouth, and 3) social media. Earlier, Allie was talking about a multi-pronged approach. So, with the social media and word of mouth, maybe scripts to prepare people to describe it. My second point is the emphasis on the benefits to the individual. It's less about understanding the minutia of CESSA but rather the existence of 988 and how CESSA relates to the individual. We already had this cultural change where they are so acclimated to 911, so we are adding 988 and trying to see the larger picture. The third point is cultural competency and finding leaders within the community because we cannot be all things to all people. During his term, President Biden used this strategy in the health and human services field; they would provide the funding or share the messaging with leaders, such as black church leaders. And the social media scripts can tell people what to post on certain channels, but some people might need a step-by-step guide about opening an account.
    • Lorrie Jones: I agree with what folks already said. I wanted to say a bit about the subregional work; we are trying to impact policymakers at the local level and local mayors and so forth. It's a different packaging for that information, and a lot of them are going to be moved by data along with stories. Video storytelling can be powerful; we saw that New York is doing this.
    • Allie Lichterman: It's especially important with those PSAPs to show the end of any interaction, so that they see the good outcomes. A video is a great way to do that if you can't get to an MCRT to actually talk to them.
    • Curtis Harris: There's a 1st responders' breakfast by Debra Vines, about care for families of people with autism and developmental disabilities. I was wondering about going out there to talk to them about their take on implementing CESSA. I'm going to talk to Debra about going.
    • Justin Houcek [in the chat]: Do we try and spread the word, as Allie had stated, by utilizing our legislators also to help spread the word? They do send out email blasts and hold community forums/gatherings.
    • Allie Lichterman: The more word-of-mouth we can do to people we know who also have reach, the better. We are happy to provide resources to help with that. [Responding to question in the chat] Do we try and spread the word by utilizing our legislators to also help spread the word? They do send out email blasts and hold community forum, gatherings, 100%. It is our government officials' job to communicate with their constituents, so how do we tap into that? As we pull resources together, we are consulting you all and our RAC co-chairs. Any way we can get feedback from people in our subregions, and use other stakeholders that we know, we want a lot of feedback and a really collaborative process. And yes, our lawyers at the state will definitely help with the legal part.

Training and Education Subcommittee (Terry Solomon)

  • 1,283 people have completed the Core Pilot Trainings as of June 5, 2025
    • PSAP Telecommunicators: 433
    • 988 Crisis Counselors: 169
    • Mobile Crisis Response Team Members: 628
    • Other: 53
  • The Subcommittee has submitted Core Training Plan Policies for 911, PSAPS, MCRTs, and 988 Crisis Counselors to state partners for review
  • The Virtual Instructor-Led Verbal De-escalation Training for PSAP 911 Telecommunicators and 988 Call Takers was held on May 22nd. The Pilot Sites can access the virtual on-demand course on the Behavioral Health Crisis Hub's Training Site

Technology, Systems Integration & Data Management Subcommittee (Erin Condon)

  • Pilot and implementation data: Reviewing pilot data as available; quarterly and monthly reports about implementation data to be provided
  • Landscape survey: Preparing to review and revise the landscape survey instrument/scope of survey
  • Baseline assessment project: Draft/delivery of the results report expected in the fall/winter; currently strategizing about data collection and report distribution
  • Data dashboards: Public data dashboards to share data related to the implementation of CESSA are in development
  • Police Social Worker survey instrument in development
  • Also in development: Provider Data Collection & Reporting Database (PDCRD)
    • Currently working with DMH to finalize detailed content for the database
    • Kicking off pre-testing process for BHCH and DMH this month
    • Preparing for more intensive internal testing this summer
    • Internal testing will be followed by provider training and testing
    • Full implementation in the second half of FY26

Technology, Systems Integration & Data Management Subcommittee: Sample Dashboards (Dr. Jodie Bargeron)

  • Not enough pilot data available currently for dashboard; an example dataset was created to create example dashboards
  • Showing interactive, customizable dashboards
    • Allows you to compare data across time, by geographic location, and by other variables
  • More updates to be provided in the coming year
  • Questions
    • Jim Hennessy: Can you go back to the slide that says, "All Mental Health Calls by Nature Code"? Is that how you guys are showing the data, by the nature codes that were pre-selected?
    • Jodie Bargeron: That's one way we can present the data, because we are receiving nature codes from all the PSAPs.
    • Jim Hennessy: I just wanted to see where you guys were classifying the nature codes we were putting into the data. So, it's the ones we made the adjusted cards for.
    • Jodie Bargeron: Yes, the PowerPhone PSAPs and Priority Dispatch PSAPs use slightly different codes, so that will be another way we are organizing the data, by vendor type.

Protocols and Standards Subcommittee (Mary Smith)

  • Subcommittee met on May 15, 2025, and June 5, 2025
  • Focus was the pre-tests and pilots

Pilot Updates (Mary Smith)

  • Total Response
    • Weekly meetings with PSAPs continue
    • Bi-weekly meetings with Centerstone and MCRT continue
    • Will continue to meet throughout the summer to encourage continuity of protocol
  • Priority Dispatch
    • Update on Pilot Initiation
      • Seven sites have launched
      • Three additional sites are planned to launch
      • Bi-weekly meetings with Centerstone and MCRT continue
    • As with Total Response meetings will continue after pilot period is over
  • APCO
    • Will be meeting with the three pilot sites in early June
    • Planned pilot launch August 1
    • PSAPs and MCRTs participating in the pilot (Participants = 3 pilot sites out of ~15 sites throughout the state)
      • RAC #1, Winnebago County, Rosecrance (primary) and NYAP (secondary)
      • RAC #7, Justice Police Department, Metropolitan Family Services (RAC #7)
      • RAC #9, Tri-Comm (Kane County), Association for Individual Development (AID) and Ecker
  • Update on Referrals from 911 to 988: Preliminary Call Transfer Status Update as of 6/5/2025
    • 127*calls transferred from 911 to 988
      • *Statistics combined for Total Response and Priority Dispatch; Totals are cumulative
    • Majority of callers concerns were addressed by 988 crisis counselors
      • The 127 calls include one or two callers known to 911 who call frequently
      • 5 calls were successfully referred to MCRT for an on-site response
      • 5 calls were transferred back to 911
    • Later on in the meeting, Brent Reynolds clarified: Is it just coincidental that there's exactly 127 calls transferred from 911 to 988 and 127 calls that include one or two callers known to 911? As well as the 5 calls successfully referred to MCRT and there were 5 calls that were transferred back to 911? Are those all one and the same for each of those categories?
      • Mary Smith: So, the intent is that there has been a total of 127 calls. I just wanted to point out that just because there were 127 calls didn't mean that there were 127 unique people who called. There were less than 127 unique callers. And then we had 5 callers that were transferred to MCRT for on-site response, which is a smaller number but expected. It's a coincidence that 5 also transferred back from 988 to 911.
      • Brent Reynolds: Thank you Mary.
      • Jessica Gimeno: Thank you Mary. What is the total-is the 127 out of 900 calls, or 1500, or 1600? Do we know the total number of calls we are dealing with?
      • Mary Smith: We have some information on that. We ask when we have our PSAP meetings, and we are hoping to gather that data in a better, more standardized way across PSAPs. Right now, I can't tell you about the cumulative count across all PSAPs, but that is something that we're working on. I can confirm that PSAPs receive thousands of calls each month.
      • Lorrie Jones: So, the 127 refers to behavioral health calls, and then some larger percentage still go to law enforcement?
      • Mary Smith: That's correct, these kinds of organizational and cultural changes take a while to kick in.
      • Jim Hennessy: Of those frequent callers, have any of the PSAPs come back with positive stories, maybe a frequent caller was transferred to 988 and now they are seeing a reduction in calls? Are there any of those stories that can be used for buy-in? Any stories where a frequent caller has gotten to the proper resources?
      • Mary Smith: That would be a great story to tell. What we've heard so far is that these frequent callers continue to call 911. I think they're comfortable with 911 and we've had conversations about whether folks remind people that they can just call 988 directly, because they do call 911, and then they're transferred over to 988. I think that's something we can follow up on, but I have not heard anyone say that there's been a reduction yet. As people become more familiar with 988, we're likely to see more people call.

FY 26 CESSA Implementation Benchmarks Discussion (Dr. Lorrie Jones)

  • Review of expected benchmarks/timeline for each Technical Subcommittee
    • Protocols and Standards projects: Interim Risk Level Matrix (IRLM) Revision; Pilot Evaluation and Report; APCO and Independents; Current Pilots; Updating Protocols and Operational Processes; Recruitment of new sites; EMD Approvals; Core Training for new sites; Implementation; Work with vendors; RAC expand SRCs and engage champions
    • Technology and Data projects: Implementation data collection and reporting; Landscape Survey; Baseline assessment; Provider Data Collection and Reporting Database; Dashboard development
    • Training and Education projects: CESSA Core refreshers; Update CESSA Core training; Optional training; Launch LMS; Training Reports

Next Meeting Dates (Allie Lichterman)

  • Proposed Cadence for FY26
    • Monthly on the second Monday
  • Proposed Virtual Meeting Dates for FY26
    • August 11, 2025
    • September 8, 2025
    • October 20, 2025 (note change because of October 13, 2025, holiday)
    • November 10, 2025
    • December 8, 2025
    • January 12, 2026
    • February 9, 2026
    • March 9, 2026
    • April 13, 2026
    • May 11, 2026
    • June 8, 2026
  • Brent Reynolds motioned to adopt the proposed schedule; Cindy Barbera-Brelle seconded the motion
    • Voted to approve: Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Jessica Gimeno, Curtis Harris, Jim Hennessy, Brent Reynolds, Bobby Van Bebber, David Albert, Drew Hansen, Pete Dyer, Rachael Ahart, Jim Kaitschuk, Blanca Campos, Emily Miller, Justin Houcek
    • Motion passed

Public Comment (Allie Lichterman)

  • No comment

Adjournment (Allie Lichterman)

  • Brent Reynolds motioned to adjourn, and Jim Hennessy seconded the motion
    • Voted to adjourn: Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Jessica Gimeno, Curtis Harris, Justin Houcek, Jim Hennessy, Brent Reynolds, David Albert, Bobby Van Bebber, Drew Hansen, Pete Dyer, Rachael Ahart, Jim Kaitschuk, Blanca Campos, Emily Miller
    • Motion passed; David Albert adjourned the meeting at 2:33pm.