Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240714

Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240714

There is a Mental Health crisis here in San Francisco and i know that we often times hear that were being thrown around loosely. But the fact is that as someone who grew up in San Francisco and know that we have had challenges in this city, including issues around homelessness, what i see is something that ive never seen in my lifetime of growing up in the city and that is people who are in serious, serious crisis. Serious need. And the fact is, in San Francisco, the frustration is that we have a lot of resources. We have a lot we have a lot of dedicated revenues to help spousht support people, but we have discovered that the coordination has to be better and more efficient to really help people that we know are struggling. So we have people who have, as we unfortunately know, theyre homeless. They have challenges with addiction. They have a number of other ailments, including Mental Illness, and unfortunately have nowhere to go but the streets. We need to make sure were prepared to meet people where they are. We know that people are cycling in and out of our Emergency Rooms and only to be released, to be back right on the streets where they came from. Our jails and theyre having trouble staying stable in our Shelter Systems and trouble maintaining housing. When i was on the board of supervisors, i had a number of clients that i was specifically dedicated to, to have a better understanding of how the system was working and whether or not it could help to reach them and, sadly, those three clients who im still connected with, are still struggle on our streets. We have to end the cycle. We have to do more and we have to be prepared to make the hardest decisions that weve ever made before. Residents like yolanda are amazing Success Stories and she has been a client here since 2009 and has really turned her life around and im really happy to have her here today. The good news is that, you know, when the city focuses and works together to address these issues, we can actually accomplish great things. Back in march, i announced that we were hiring a director of Mental Health reform because that is exactly what we need to do with this system. Dr. Anton will be speaking a little bit later about what hes been doing suns he has taken over this role back in march to get us on track. Today, we are launching an initiative to help those who are the most in need. At those Cross Sections of homelessness, Mental Illness and Substance Use disorder. And our plan is to better coordinate the care. Now i know youve all heard about the numbers. But the fact is the data with the numbers and the information wasnt necessarily clear. And that is a big part of what we want to talk about today. What is actually we see it. We know it is happening. We heard that there was data, but the fact is there wasnt really data in really clear, coordinated efforts. And so the ability to address this issue comes with understanding what is going on with the people and that includes the data. And analyzing the folks who are in and out of our system, understanding if they were offered services or why they refused services and where theyre located after their refused services. Through this analysis done by the health department, through dr. S nagusaplan and the department of Public Health, we have been able to identify 4,000 people with the characteristics of the population who are really in need through these various diagnosis. And of the 4,000 individuals that weve identified who struggle with these particular challenges, 41 are in crisis, which is demonstrated by their high use of the Emergency Psychiatric Services and 95 suffer from alcohol use disorder and the sad reality is what were seeing is there is a real issue of equity because 35 are african american, despite the fact that we have a population of not even 6 of African Americans here in San Francisco overall. This is just the beginning. The first step of this initiative that we are proposing today is understanding the data, analyzing the data, and also making direct impacts on the particular population and really digging deep into those particular issues with those particular individuals. And now as a result, what we plan to do about it, this is just the beginning of several initiatives that we planned to announce to ream get deep into the weeds of addressing Mental Health in San Francisco. I want to be clear. There is not one thing that we will be able to do to address this issue. There are a number of things that we will put forward over the coming weeks to help the public better understand the issue, to help the public better understand and appreciate the people who are working in this industry, the ones who are helping us deal with these issues every single day. To help People Better understand that there are folks that weve been able to help and to support and that many of the programs that we have in place do work. But there is a need for reform. There is a need to increase capacity and to better examine, you know, new ways to address this issue. The first step in the initiative that were proposing today is to expand individual care coordination for those we have identified. So of the 4,000 and doctor bland will go into a little bit more detail, but to just really center in on those who are most in need and that population and to really target them with individualized coordination. We also will definitely need to get them stabilize and stream the housing and health care process. Because we have to have a safe place for them to be, to recover, to go through whatever process they need to go through to get back on their feet. And we also need to understand that this challenge is not a 9 00 to 5 00 issue. Were going to expand the hours of our Behavioral Health Access Center so people can access these services on nights and weekends. Let me be clear that the three elements of the initiative are just the beginning. And so we know we have more work to do to improve transparency and the efficiency of our system and to enhance our services and improve what we need to do for the most vulnerable of our city. We are committed and we are ready to roll up our sleeves and to do the work. Because this is not a political issue. This is about peoples lives. And this is about understanding this population so we can get to the root causes and to help people. It comes with a number of various layers of things that we have to do. And i know some of you are familiar with whats happening with our conservatorship legislation and how its gone through the board and how that is going to hopefully help individuals who are refusing treatment, but in desperate need of services. That is one approach. This is another approach. Weve already opened a new 100 Mental Health stabilization beds and our goal is to open 100 more by the end of this year and focusing on specific things to target this population in a way thats going going to help turn around what we know we see on our streets every day is something that is so important. Im sure you have this same example. You may see this same person on the corner every day, screaming and yelling. And i have a particular individual who removes his clothing and when i see him, i cant help but think this could be my father. This could be my grandfather. This could be my uncle. This could be my family member. And i want to help him. I want to make sure he gets the support he needs. It is not humane to continue to allow this to occur on our streets and that is why we have to move forward with a number of initiatives to help address this. Now what were proposing will not n many ways, be able to solve the issues that we know everyone is facing. Were not going to be able to force everyone into treatment. We know that locally the laws make it difficult to do something of that nature. But we do need to try. We do need to kaord nate our services and we do need to make sure that we are better prepared to meet people where they are. We cant assume that when they walk into the doors of a place like this that they know what to do. We need people who are going to be able to help them understand people who are going to understand what the challenge is and be able to address the challenge and that doesnt include, here, fill out this paperwork and take care of this and bring your i. D. That is not the way we are approaching this particular issue. Its about getting the kind of results where you can see and feel a difference on our streets every single day. So we have work to do in here to talk a little bit more about what were proposing and what hes discovered since hes taken on this role as of march of this year is dr. Nagusabland. [applause] thank you, mayor breed, for your support as we embark on this multiyear effort to transform Mental Health and Substance Use care for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. Thank you, dr. Colfax, for embracing the scale of the change we need in order to make a difference for this population and for the entire city. Thank you also jessica for your partnership in this important work as we endeavor to trace safety and civility for our neighbors. I also want to acknowledge the communitybased providers and philanthropists, clinicians and researchers, advocates and clients who dead indicate themselves to improving and saving lives in San Francisco. We will need everyone working together if were going to make the kind of impact that this population in San Francisco needs. Heres what we found out about our population. We looked very closely at who used San Franciscos health care and social services in the most recent fiscal year. And as the mayor pointed out, out of nearly 18,000 people experiencing homelessness, we found that close to 4,000 of them also have both a history of serious Mental Illness and of Substance Abuse disorder. We found racial inequity in the population. 35 are black or african american. When just 5 of San Franciscos population is. 41 of these individuals are high users of urgent and emergent Psychiatric Services and 95 suffer with an alcohol use problem. Now we have seen other large cities analyzed our high use of Emergency Services usually from a cost perspective. But as far as we know, San Francisco is the first to [inaudible] health diagnoses of people experiencing homelessness to identifying a population and tailing solutions to that populations needs. This is how we solve problems in medicine. When a patient comes to us with a complex set of issues, we are not haphazard in our approach. We test. We collect information from collateral sources. We diagnose and we treat. We use data to precisely target our problems. We inknow vaitz and, most important of all, we persist. We are here to solve problems for the entire population and confront a crisis for our city. These are the people who need help the most. Helping them will make the biggest difference for them, for our health system, and for the entire community. When we talk about Behavioral Health, we mean Mental Health and Substance Use. We know that when someone is suffering from a Mental Illness or addiction, it is a lot like a Chronic Health condition such as diabetes or even hypertension. When people are in treatment, they do better. When they have a setback, we dont give up. And when 4,000 san franciscans find themselves in the intersection of Mental Illness and Substance Use disorder, business as usual does not work for them. We have to find ways to use the system to bend in their direction. Im happy to say that this work has begun. As we rolled out the first in what will be a series of recommendations we can say we are entering a new era of collaboration with the department of homelessness and supportive housing. Jointly identifying the people in greatest need and relentless about getting them on a path to civility and wellness. With other city partners, we will be able to keep track of these individuals and wherever they touch our system a Care Coordinator will respond. When we say were increasing access to Behavioral Health care and we can promise, we promise that were going to focus on these 200 most Vulnerable People in this group right now. And Work Together to get them connected to housing, treatment and care. We will be meeting weekly to discuss each of these individuals and tracking their progress. We will outreach to them wherever they are. We will problem solve and remove barriers to accessing care and the lessons that we learn will ultimately help us improve the system of care for more people. Going forward, the recommendations i will continue to deliver to mayor breed will be driven by clinical expertise, by data, by evidence and by the most innovative and best practices we can find or imagine. They will promote equity and transparency in our system of care, that they will advance Harm Reduction and lower barriers. They will build on the legacy of addressing problems that might seem intractable and of making stability, wellness and recovery possible. The clients and staff here at the south of the Health Clinic show us that perseverance every day. With that, id like to introduce Yolanda Morris et. [applause] about 15 years ago, i came to San Francisco because i was being abused and i fled that relationship. I didnt know anyone in San Francisco, i left my clothes and i didnt look back. I was also an au addict and i was an alcoholic and i was homeless. I came here and slept in the alley. Ive been every street out here that you can name and through the years i did want to get help. I didnt know how. And so after more abusive relationships, i finally got a good guy and it was his choice for us to get clean. He said we gotta get clean in order to make it here in San Francisco. Im going to stop doing what i can do so that you can get your act together. And so i decided because ive been in all the shelters out here. I know how the shelters work. I decided to stay next door. I stayed there for a year. And i behaved. From there, i went into an s. R. O. They placed me in a singleroom occupancy is what it is called. A room with a bathroom and i stayed there for five years and prior to me when i first moved into the s. R. O. , my mother was dying of cancer and she didnt tell me because she knew it would take me out. I had a year of clean on me and i didnt look back and thought thats not what my mother would want. Im going to stay clean and im going to fight. Soy went out and found everything that i could find. This is one of first places that i came to because i had a lot of stuff going on mentally and physically. They were able to help me get on medication. They were able to help me get therapy, to get to the root of the problem, what was going on because i had a lot of stuff going on and after doing that, i had a lot of anger issues, depression, suicidal thoughts. I had to do anger management here twice and i finally got it right and i started doing other programs. Glide was out there. Sage was out there. It is not out there anymore. I went to the womens reentry center. I didnt feel comfortable at first because they walk you over there. Ive also been incars rated out here in San Francisco for drug possession and other things of that nature due to my drug use. And so i just slowly said im going to build myself up and started doing things for women against rape and violence. I got an award from the d. A. I like the write. I started writing here. I found out that im a pretty good poet and i do i do poems here every year for the black history month. They embrace me here. Ive been coming here since 2012 getting support and getting help. And i graduated from a lot of programs out there and i started doing peer mentorship through San Francisco state. Ive graduated from ram, ive graduated from nami. I expunged my record. I got my drivers license back. Five years into my s. R. O. There was a program called brilliant corners. They came and gave out vouchers to people who are willing and ready to move out of the tenderloin and i had two weeks left and i fought hard and found me a onebedroom and i got out of the tenderloin. But i still come to the tenderloin because this is an ish yaoufm i know a lot of people here. I always want to do anything that i can to disclose support and help the people in the community. So i continued. Im still with my guy. Were getting married this year. And [applause] thank you. And also i want to say that i was able to get a really good job through help rights 360th called maps and its mentor and peer support. They give you a job and they give you schooling for that. So i was able to do that. And now i teach groups in jail. I teach groups to the men in san bruno on domestic violence. I teach groups to the deputies about crisis intervention training. I go out and volunteer. I do anything and everything that i can to support anyone. W

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