Update: Overflow audience voices strong support for effective Mental Health and Drug Dependency Programs at Council Town Hall in Shoreline

The audience of more than 400 that spilled out of the Shoreline Conference Center’s Shoreline Room spoke with one voice at the June 25 Metropolitan King County Council Town Hall meeting. Speaker after speaker told Councilmembers of a growing need for the County to support programs that divert people suffering from mental illnesses and chemical dependency away from jail cells and into proper treatment facilities.

The largest audience to ever attend a County Council Town Hall packed the Shoreline Conference Center to discuss the Mental Illness & Drug Dependency Action Plan

An individual booked into the King County Jail on a criminal charge or conviction will stay for an average of 20 days. Someone with a mental illness booked on an identical charge will spend an average of 158 days in jail, often waiting for a competency evaluation that may take months.

The Town Hall was an opportunity to examine the innovative Mental Illness & Drug Dependency Action Plan — a countywide effort to provide treatment as opposed to jail time for the mentally ill or chemically dependent. The public and Councilmembers heard from a panel representing the perspectives of clients, providers, and the King County Jail on the implementation of the plan.

Read "Mental-health hearing by county draws hundreds, " Seattle Times, 6/26/07

Mental illness and drug dependency plan the focus of next Town Hall Meeting

Individuals suffering from mental illnesses or drug and alcohol dependencies now fill our jails, courts and hospitals. On any given day, the King County Jail houses more mentally ill individuals than any other institution in the state, except Western State Hospital. The criminalization of mental illness and the cycle of drug dependency are nationwide problems that deeply impact King County.

Please join the King County Council in Shoreline on June 25 for a special Town Hall Meeting on the innovative Mental Illness & Drug Dependency Action Plan — a countywide effort to shift the focus from incarcerating the mentally ill and chemically dependent to providing resources for treatment and community and justice alternatives that keep them from recycling through the criminal justice system.

The Town Hall Meeting will focus on the third and final stage of the Action Plan, which includes:

• determining the services that will best serve the needs of the target populations;
• recommending options for early identification and prevention of mental illness and chemical dependency;
• setting priorities for system changes and services; and
• estimating costs for needed services and identifying a potential funding source;

The public and Council will be briefed on the Action Plan by Kelli Carroll, staff for the Council’s Law, Justice and Human Services Committee, and Amnon Shoenfeld, Director of the King County Division of Mental Health and Chemical Abuse Dependency Services.

A panel representing the client, provider, and jail perspectives will discuss the recommendations in the Action Plan. Confirmed panel members currently include:

• Two clients of mental health providers;
• Amnon Shoenfeld, Director of the King County Department of Community and Human Services Mental Health, Chemical Abuse & Dependency Division;
• Mark Bolton, Deputy Director, Department of Adult & Juvenile Detention
• Shirley Havenga, CEO, Community Psychiatric Clinics

The meeting will be held on Monday, June 25 at the Shoreline Conference Center at 18560 1st Ave NE in Shoreline. The public is invited to meet face-to-face with King County Councilmembers at an informal reception starting at 6:00 p.m. The program will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The County Council is a regional government committed to engaging King County residents in their local communities. Throughout the year, the Council holds local Town Hall Meetings on issues of public importance. Community members have the opportunity to meet Councilmembers, be briefed by local and regional experts, and provide public testimony.

Each Town Hall is a special meeting of the Council’s Committee-of-the-Whole (COW), the only standing committee on which all nine members serve. COW considers legislation and policy issues of interest to the entire council.

Recent town hall meetings have been held in Seattle, Redmond, Renton, West Seattle, Carnation, Auburn, Shoreline, Bellevue, and Enumclaw.

Questions? Please email CouncilTownHall@KingCounty.gov or call 206-296-0335.

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