KINGSTON – The Ulster County Criminal Justice Reform Task Force discussed their preliminary plans for a Social and Mental Health Response Force with law enforcement and residents Wednesday evening.
The plan addresses five primary mental health areas, including how the county funds mental health workers and initiatives, the experience of jail stays on incarcerated people, restorative justice, the appointment of a crisis intervention officer and the availability of crisis stabilization beds.
Task Force Chairwoman, County Legislator Eve Walter, said the plan is still in its infancy, but the idea is to connect all of the professionals for mental health needs in the county and having a lead crisis intervention officer is one of the first steps to bringing it all together.
“It’s time to connect all of the things,” said Walter. “These are all people who often think about this stuff anyway, but how do we pull them together to think about a specific piece of it. I don’t think anyone envisions this person as being the care provider of mental health services, but that they are the coordinator to make sure the right people are doing the right thing,” she said.
There was some discussion over how to distinguish what the Social and Mental Health Response Force does differently than the county’s Human Rights Commission, but the majority consensus is that it will be a complimentary and more specific body than the Human Rights Commission.
Some prospects for the response force include evaluation into a Restorative Justice Task Force and department within the county with its own budget, which does not currently have a consensus from the task force. Also proposed, is sending an RFP out to private companies to create the crisis stabilization beds.
The discussions are ongoing and will continue to be updated by the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force.
