Commentary | By Abbas Sedaghat | San Diego Union Tribune October 21, 2022 | Fair Use Reprint (Abbas) Sedaghat, M.D., is a retired professor of medicine with a 60-year career. His book “The Practice of Medicine in Three Continents: An Autobiography” was published this year. He lives in Rancho Bernardo. In February, I found myself alone, having retired from an…
Posts published by “Jerry Hall”
I gave a summary of the longer public comment below urging the Executive Board to: My longer comment is as follows. Thank you Executive Board Members, Dr. Bergmann, Staff and any other guests For nearly a decade you have heard me either on the Alcohol and Other Drug Advisory Board and the Behavioral Health Advisory Board, implore these boards to…
The following are documents and notes from the Building a Better BHAB (BBB) Workgroup formed and meeting during 2019-20 which this author, as chair of the workgroup, documented. These documents effectively outline how the BHAB could be reformed and refocused on their state-mandated duties. Not many of these recommendations were adopted unfortunately. My hope is that these will be used…
Update: See also the FY2020-21 and FY2021-22 analyses. California counties are able to spend up to 5% of their annual MHSA allocated dollars towards ensuring a comprehensive array of Community Program Planning (CPP) processes are in place to ensure meaningful stakeholder engagement throughout the entire year. Only 4% of an available $104m is spent by one-half of California counties on…
The MHSA Community Program Planning (CPP) processes include provisions and funding to train community stakeholders so that they can in turn give more informed feedback. What topics could we cover to get stakeholders up to speed? For starters how about: Types and characteristics of mental disorders (or illness) – conditions that affect your thinking, feeling, mood, and behavior. [NAMI, MedLine,…
The San Diego County Behavioral Health Services (BHS) is in process of developing what is called the Community Experience Project. They have been working with a University of California San Diego partner. They describe the project in part as: “The goal of the Community Experience Project is to develop a process to identify and address unmet behavioral health needs, and…
California’s Mental Health Services Accountability and Oversight Commission (MHSOAC) were determined to evaluate the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) requirements relating to the Community Program Planning (CPP) processes. They sought to learn how California counties are meeting their responsibilities to successfully and meaningfully engage their stakeholder community. 2014 MHSOAC Staff Analysis Staff Analysis of Deliverable 5 (summary report)Deliverable 6 (promising…
Here’s the text of the public comment I made at today’s 2/4/2021 BHAB meeting. Good afternoon everyone. I hope you are all well, safe and happy. My name is Jerry Hall. Although I am a Member of this Behavioral Health Advisory Board or (BHAB), I’m speaking here for myself as an individual and consumer of our county BHS services. From…
I can only imagine what a fully engaged mental-health consumer community looks like. I hear of the the challenges people face when entering into our county jail system. Of the number of deaths by suicide. The significant number of people who die while in custody. I see our homeless population being challenged on a daily basis by police departments not…
Board Retreat Public Comment (Extended)
Focus & Commentary and Public Comment & Feedback
This is my public comment to the BHAB Board Retreat participants in full. A summarized version was presented in order to meet the 3-minute limit. Hello Chair Stewart, Chair Fletcher, BHAB Members, Dr. Bergmann, and Staff This is an important day for you all to set the tone for the next 14 months of how and what BHAB will focus…